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In "provocateur," a word borrowed directly from French, one sees the English verb "provoke." Both "provoke" and "provocateur" derive from Latin provocare, meaning "to call forth." Why do we say "provocateur" for one who incites another to action, instead of simply "provoker"? Perhaps it's because of "agent provocateur," a term of French origin that literally means "provoking agent." Both "agent provocateur" and the shortened "provocateur" can refer to someone (such as an undercover police officer or a political operative) whose job is to incite people to break the law so that they can be arrested, but only "provocateur" is used in English with the more general sense of "one who provokes."
Synonyms
Examples of provocateur in a Sentence
Ben Dandridge-Lemco, Rolling Stone, 29 Dec. 2024
Leave it to Virat Kohli, India's talismanic batter who doubles as a renowned provocateur, to try to light a fire under his beleaguered team.
—Tristan Lavalette, Forbes, 26 Dec. 2024
There are these cliché observations about Bob: Bob the mysterious enigma, Bob the playful provocateur.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 24 Dec. 2024
There are many probable causes of our eastward drift: the failures of globalization, the betrayals of technological progress, cultural anomie, the provocateurs who profit from the sense that the world is about to burn.
—Chang Che, The New Yorker, 21 Dec. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near provocateur
Cite this Entry
“Provocateur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/provocateur. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.
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