instigate

English

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “instigate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Etymology

From the Latin īnstīgātus, past participle of īnstīgāre (“to instigate”), from prefix in- (“in”) + *stigare, akin to stinguere (“push, goad”). Akin to German stechen (“to prick”), English stick.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪnstəɡeɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

1. (transitive) to incite; to bring about by urging or encouraging

   to instigate a riot

2. (transitive) to goad or urge (a person) forward, especially to wicked actions; to provoke

   to instigate someone to a crime

   • (Can we date this quote by Bishop Warburton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     He hath only instigated his blackest agents to the very extent of their malignity.

   Synonyms: animate, encourage, impel, incite, provoke, spur, stimulate, tempt, urge

   Antonyms: halt, prevent, stop

Derived terms

• instigation
• instigator

 

Translations

to goad or urge forward; to set on; to provoke; to incite

• Arabic: حَرَضَ (ḥaraḍa), دَفَعَ (ar) (dafaʕa)
• Armenian: սադրել (hy) (sadrel)
• Bulgarian: подстрекавам (bg) (podstrekavam), предизвиквам (bg) (predizvikvam), провокирам (bg) (provokiram)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 煽動／煽动 (zh) (shāndòng), 煽动 (zh) (shāndòng), 指使 (zh) (zhǐshǐ)

• Dutch: aanstichten (nl)
• Finnish: yllyttää (fi)
• French: inciter (fr), susciter (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: anstiften, hetzen (de)
• Hungarian: felbujt (hu), provokál (hu), uszít (hu)
• Japanese: 煽動する (せんどうする, sendō suru)
• Latin: instigō
• Maori: whakatū, whakakīkī
• Portuguese: instigar (pt)
• Russian: подстрека́ть (ru) (podstrekátʹ), подбива́ть (ru) (podbivátʹ), подгова́ривать (ru) (podgovárivatʹ)
• Slovak: podnecovať, nabádať, navádzať, naviesť, podnietiť
• Swedish: pressa fram

Further reading

• “instigate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “instigate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

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Esperanto

Adverb

instigate

1. present adverbial passive participle of instigi

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Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) īnstīgāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of īnstīgō