Definitions for provoke
prəˈvoʊkpro·voke

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:5.0 / 2 votes

1. arouse, elicit, enkindle, kindle, evoke, fire, raise, provokeverb

   call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses)

   "arouse pity"; "raise a smile"; "evoke sympathy"

2. provoke, evoke, call forth, kick upverb

   evoke or provoke to appear or occur

   "Her behavior provoked a quarrel between the couple"

3. provoke, stimulateverb

   provide the needed stimulus for

4. harass, hassle, harry, chivy, chivvy, chevy, chevvy, beset, plague, molest, provokeverb

   annoy continually or chronically

   "He is known to harry his staff when he is overworked"; "This man harasses his female co-workers"

WiktionaryRate this definition:3.3 / 4 votes

1. provokeverb

   to cause someone to become annoyed or angry.

   Don't provoke the dog, it may try to bite you.

2. provokeverb

   to bring about a reaction.

3. Etymology: From provoquer, from provocare.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. To PROVOKEverb

   Etymology: provoquer, Fr. provoco, Latin.

   1. To rouse; to excite by something offensive; to awake.

   Ye provoke me unto wrath, burning incense unto other Gods. Jer. xliv. 8.

   Neither to provoke nor dread
   New war provok’d. John Milton.

   To whet their courage, and their rage provoke. Dryden.

   I neither fear, nor will provoke the war. Dryden.

   2. To anger; to enrage; to offend; to incense.

   Though often provoked, by the insolence of some of the bishops, to a dislike of their overmuch fervour, his integrity to the king was without blemish. Edward Hyde.

   Such acts
   Of contumacy will provoke the highest. John Milton.

   Agamemnon provokes Apollo against them, whom he was willing to appease afterwards. Alexander Pope.

   3. To cause; to promote.

   Drink is a great provoker; it provokes and unprovokes. Sha.

   One Petro covered up his patient with warm cloaths, and when the fever began a little to decline, gave him cold water to drink till he provoked sweat. Arbuthnot.

   4. To challenge.

   He now provokes the sea-gods from the shore,
   With envy Triton heard the martial sound,
   And the bold champion for his challenge drown’d. Dryden.

   5. To induce by motive; to move; to incite.

   We may not be startled at the breaking of the exterior earth; for the face of nature hath provoked men to think of, and observe such a thing. Thomas Burnet, Theory of the Earth.

2. To Provokeverb

   1. To appeal. A Latinism.

   Arius and Pelagius durst provoke
   To what the centuries preceding spoke. Dryden.

   2. To produce anger.

   It was not your brother’s evil disposition made him seek his death, but a provoking merit. William Shakespeare, King Lear.

   The Lord abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons. Deutr. xxxii. 19.

   If we consider man in such a loathsome and provoking condition, was it not love enough, that he was permitted to enjoy a being. Taylor.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. provoke

   To provoke means to stimulate or incite someone into action or reaction, often by causing anger, irritation, or strong feelings. This can also refer to deliberately make a situation, problem, or feeling worse.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Provokeverb

   to call forth; to call into being or action; esp., to incense to action, a faculty or passion, as love, hate, or ambition; hence, commonly, to incite, as a person, to action by a challenge, by taunts, or by defiance; to exasperate; to irritate; to offend intolerably; to cause to retaliate

2. Provokeverb

   to cause provocation or anger

3. Provokeverb

   to appeal. [A Latinism]

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Provoke

   Provoke is the third album of Dutch death metal band Altar. It was released in 1998 by Displeased Records.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Provoke

   prō-vōk′, v.t. to call forth: to summon: to excite or call into action: to excite with anger: to offend: (B.) to challenge.—n. Provocā′tion, act of provoking: that which provokes: any cause of danger.—adjs. Provoc′ative, Provoc′atory, tending to provoke or excite.—n. anything that stirs up or provokes.—n. Provoc′ativeness, the quality of being provocative.—adj. Provō′kable.—ns. Provōke′ment (Spens.), provocation; Provō′ker, one who, or that which, provokes, causes, or promotes.—adj. Provō′king, irritating.—adv. Provō′kingly.—The provocation, the sojourn of the Jews in the wilderness, when they provoked God. [Fr. provoquer—L. provocāre, pro, forth, vocāre, to call.]

Matched Categories

1. • Challenge

British National Corpus

1. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'provoke' in Verbs Frequency: #721

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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How to pronounce provoke?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say provoke in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of provoke in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of provoke in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of provoke in a Sentence

1. Jennifer Sclafani:

   [ President Trump has a ] predilection for speaking in generalities, these general expressions can be seen as having multiple functions, but oftentimes the president uses them to provoke a reaction in his audience -- of shock, dismay, or disgust.

2. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve:

   Ninety percent of those who commit terrorist acts fall into it after regularly consulting websites or blogs that call for or provoke terrorism.

3. Chuck Fleischmann:

   Any time you have someone’s first-hand account of the sheer terror that ISIS can provoke … that’s powerful.

4. Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko:

   Those who try to give us advice on matters of human rights do nothing but provoke an ironic smile among us. We will not permit anyone to interfere in our affairs.

5. Ammon Bundy:

   Our goal is to get enough people together and secure our rights... we are not trying to provoke, we want people to be able to worship.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=provoke
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Provoke
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=provoke
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/provoke
6. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=provoke
7. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=provoke
8. ^ Usage in printed sources
   https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=provoke