provoke

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French provoquer, from Old French, from Latin prōvocāre. Doublet of provocate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹəˈvəʊk/
• IPA^(key): /pɹəˈvoʊk/
• Rhymes: -əʊk

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

1. (transitive) To cause someone to become annoyed or angry.

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

   • Bible, Eph. vi. 4

     Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.

2. (transitive) To bring about a reaction.
   • (Can we date this quote by J. Burroughs and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     To the poet the meaning is what he pleases to make it, what it provokes in his own soul.

   • 2011 November 12, “International friendly: England 1-0 Spain”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Spain were provoked into a response and Villa almost provided a swift equaliser when he rounded Hart but found the angle too acute and could only hit the side-netting.

3. (obsolete) To appeal.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (bring about a reaction): bring about, discompose, egg on, engender, evoke, grill, incite, induce, inflame, instigate, invoke, rouse, set off, stir up, whip up; see also Thesaurus:incite

Derived terms

• provocation
• provocative

Related terms

• evoke
• invoke
• provocateur
• revoke

Translations

to cause to become angry

• Arabic: اِسْتَفَزَّ (istafazza)
• Catalan: provocar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 挑釁／挑衅 (zh) (tiǎoxìn), 挑衅 (zh) (tiǎoxìn), 扇動／扇动 (zh) (shāndòng), 扇动 (zh) (shāndòng), 激怒 (zh) (jīnù), 激起 (zh) (jīqǐ), 刺激 (zh) (cìjī)

• Czech: dráždit (cs)
• Danish: provokere
• Dutch: uitlokken (nl)
• Esperanto: provoki
• Finnish: suututtaa (fi), provosoida (fi)
• French: provoquer (fr)
• German: provozieren (de), aufreizen, aufwühlen, aufhetzen (de), aufpeitschen, aufstacheln
• Greek: εξοργίζω (el) (exorgízo), εξάπτω (el) (exápto)

  Ancient Greek: ἐρεθίζω (erethízō)

• Hungarian: provokál (hu)
• Icelandic: ergja, skaprauna
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 怒らせる (いからせる, ikaraseru), 立腹させる (ja) (りっぷくさせる, rippaku-saseru), 憤慨させる (ja) (ふんがいさせる, fungai-saseru)
• Latin: prōvocō
• Maori: raparapa, makitohene, māreherehe, whakatenetene, whakapātaritari, mukākā, kōtara
• Middle English: forthcallen
• Norwegian: provosere (no)
• Persian: افژولیدن (fa) (afžulidan)
• Polish: prowokować (pl), podjudzać impf, drażnić (pl) impf
• Portuguese: provocar (pt), irritar (pt)
• Russian: провоци́ровать (ru) impf (provocírovatʹ), спровоци́ровать (ru) pf (sprovocírovatʹ), серди́ть (ru) impf (serdítʹ), рассерди́ть (ru) pf (rasserdítʹ)
• Spanish: provocar (es)
• Swedish: provocera (sv)
• Tagalog: mang-udyok
• Tuvaluan: fakaoso

to bring about a reaction

• Finnish: provosoida (fi)
• German: hervorrufen (de), hervorbringen (de), zeitigen (de), anerzeugen, anerschaffen
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: whakakārangirangi, pātaritari, taunanawe, whakapātaritari, whakatari, whakataritari, makitohene, mukākā