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. Ali Shihabi:

   Certainly the political space and the space for freedoms was already very tight, and it's gotten much tighter over the last two years. So certainly the environment would provoke more Saudis to go abroad, but it's statistically insignificant.

2. Sally Hammoud:

   We wanted to show the world that our intention is not to disrupt the country nor provoke any other parties that might be against our protest, to say that we could express ourselves yet not affect the freedom of movement for anyone.

3. Charles Babbage:

   On two occasions I have been asked, – "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" In one case a member of the Upper, and in the other a member of the Lower, House put this question. I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.

4. Anne Marie Schieber:

   John Gibbs made the site to provoke the left on campus and to draw attention to the hypocrisy of some modern-day feminists. It was nothing more than a college kid being over the top, of course, John Gibbs does not believe that women shouldn't vote or shouldn't work, and John Gibbs mother worked for thirty-three years for the Michigan Department of Transportation !

5. Sunni Muslims.The Pope:

   In order to prevent conflicts and build peace, it is essential that we spare no effort in eliminating situations of poverty and exploitation where extremism more easily takes root, and in blocking the flow of money and weapons destined to those who provoke violence.

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