PROVOKE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does provoke mean? 

• PROVOKE (verb)
  The verb PROVOKE has 4 senses:

1. call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses)

2. evoke or provoke to appear or occur

3. provide the needed stimulus for

4. annoy continually or chronically

  Familiarity information: PROVOKE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PROVOKE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they provoke    ... he / she / it provokes   
Past simple: provoked   
Past participle: provoked   
-ing form: provoking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses)

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

arouse; elicit; enkindle; evoke; fire; kindle; provoke; raise

Context example:

evoke sympathy

Hypernyms (to "provoke" is one way to...):

create; make (make or cause to be or to become)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "provoke"):

fire up; heat; ignite; inflame; stir up; wake (arouse or excite feelings and passions)

interest (excite the curiosity of; engage the interest of)

overcome; overpower; overtake; overwhelm; sweep over; whelm (overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli)

bruise; hurt; injure; offend; spite; wound (hurt the feelings of)

shame (cause to be ashamed)

discomfit; discompose; disconcert; untune; upset (cause to lose one's composure)

anger (make angry)

excite (arouse or elicit a feeling)

excite; shake; shake up; stimulate; stir (stir the feelings, emotions, or peace of)

prick (to cause a sharp emotional pain)

infatuate (arouse unreasoning love or passion in and cause to behave in an irrational way)

rekindle (arouse again)

draw (elicit responses, such as objections, criticism, applause, etc.)

ask for; invite (increase the likelihood of)

strike a chord; touch a chord (evoke a reaction, response, or emotion)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

provocation (something that incites or provokes; a means of arousing or stirring to action)

provocative (serving or tending to provoke, excite, or stimulate; stimulating discussion or exciting controversy)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Evoke or provoke to appear or occur

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

call forth; evoke; kick up; provoke

Context example:

Her behavior provoked a quarrel between the couple

Hypernyms (to "provoke" is one way to...):

cause; do; make (give rise to; cause to happen or occur, not always intentionally)

Verb group:

arouse; bring up; call down; call forth; conjure; conjure up; evoke; invoke; put forward; raise; stir (summon into action or bring into existence, often as if by magic)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "provoke"):

pick (provoke)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

provocation (something that incites or provokes; a means of arousing or stirring to action)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Provide the needed stimulus for

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

provoke; stimulate

Hypernyms (to "provoke" is one way to...):

challenge (issue a challenge to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "provoke"):

rejuvenate (cause (a stream or river) to erode, as by an uplift of the land)

jog (stimulate to remember)

incite; instigate; set off; stir up (provoke or stir up)

agitate; foment; stir up (try to stir up public opinion)

entice; lure; tempt (provoke someone to do something through (often false or exaggerated) promises or persuasion)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE

Sentence example:

They provoke him to write the letter

Derivation:

provocation (needed encouragement)

provocation (something that incites or provokes; a means of arousing or stirring to action)

provocative (serving or tending to provoke, excite, or stimulate; stimulating discussion or exciting controversy)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Annoy continually or chronically

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

beset; chevvy; chevy; chivvy; chivy; harass; harry; hassle; molest; plague; provoke

Context example:

This man harasses his female co-workers

Hypernyms (to "provoke" is one way to...):

annoy; bother; chafe; devil; get at; get to; gravel; irritate; nark; nettle; rag; rile; vex (cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "provoke"):

goad; needle (annoy or provoke, as by constant criticism)

bedevil; crucify; dun; frustrate; rag; torment (treat cruelly)

haze (harass by imposing humiliating or painful tasks, as in military institutions)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to provoke Sue

Derivation:

provocation (unfriendly behavior that causes anger or resentment)

provocative (serving or tending to provoke, excite, or stimulate; stimulating discussion or exciting controversy)

provoker (someone who deliberately foments trouble)

 Context examples 

It is indeed for Mrs. Jennings; how provoking!

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

We must provoke no scenes with this man, nor cross his will.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

A third attempt, later in the day, provoked a terrific crash, and a subsequent message from the Central Exchange that Professor Challenger's receiver had been shattered.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“And now we shall just miss them; too provoking! I do not know when I have been so disappointed.”

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Sir Thomas could not be provoked.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the salesman.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mars will provoke any resentments that any of your partners in love or business may have been harboring. 

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

On repeating the experiment using only this compound, at the concentrations found in the field, they found that retene can by itself provoke DNA damage and cellular death.

(Lung damage from agricultural fires probed, SciDev.Net)

I won't provoke my betters with knowledge, thank you.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It can also be characterized by documentation of ECG patterns associated with Brugada Syndrome, some of which may be unmasked when provoked with drugs.

(Brugada Syndrome Ventricular Arrhythmia by ECG Finding, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)