provoke

1 call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses); "arouse pity"; "raise a smile"; "evoke sympathy" [syn: arouse, elicit, enkindle, kindle, evoke, fire, raise]

2 call forth; "Her behavior provoked a quarrel between the couple" [syn: evoke, call forth, kick up]

3 provide the needed stimulus for [syn: stimulate]

4 annoy continually or chronically; "He is known to harry his staff when he is overworked"; "This man harasses his female co-workers" [syn: harass, hassle, harry, chivy, chivvy, chevy, chevvy, beset, plague, molest]

English

Pronunciation

Verb

1. to cause (a person) to become angry.
2. to bring about a reaction.

Synonyms

• sense bring about a reaction bring about, discompose, egg on, engender, evoke, incite, induce, inflame, instigate, invoke, rouse, set off, stir up, whip up

Derived terms

• provocation
• provocative

Translations

A provocation is an act that causes a response.

Provocation and provoke can refer to:

• Provocation (legal), a type of legal defense in court which claims the "victim" provoked the accused's actions
• Agent provocateur, a (generally political) group that tries to goad a desired response from the group or otherwise disrupt its activity
• Provocation (medical), a way of medical testing for conditions such as an allergy by provoking the immune system's response
  • Provocation study, a form of medical research using the above method
• Provoke (album), a 1998 album by Altar and their final release on Displeased Records
• Provoked (film), a 2007 British film starring Aishwarya Rai and Naveen Andrews

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