instigate
verb
Did you know?
It's time to investigate the true meaning of instigate. Instigate is often used as a synonym of incite (as in "siblings instigating a fight"), but the two words differ slightly in their overall usage. Incite usually stresses an act of stirring something up that one did not necessarily initiate ("the court's decision incited riots"), while instigate implies responsibility for initiating or encouraging someone else's action, and usually suggests dubious or underhanded intent ("he was charged with instigating a conspiracy"). Coming from a form of the Latin verb instigare ("to urge on or provoke"), instigate stepped into English in the 1500s, roughly a century after incite.
Examples of instigate in a Sentence
Zak Garner-Purkis, Forbes.com, 26 June 2025
But even if Khamenei was content to suffer a prolonged war and the casualties that come with it, there still exists the growing threat of a regime change being instigated by the conflict.
—Timothy Nerozzi, The Washington Examiner, 18 June 2025
Trent Frederic instigated a fight with Florida’s Sam Bennett, and Bennett took him to the ice.
—Adam Lichtenstein, Sun Sentinel, 10 June 2025
Safe Return is also designed to instigate an automatic landing if the pilot does not initiate any inputs for more than 30 minutes at cruise and does not respond to prompts, or shorter intervals at very high altitudes where hypoxia is more likely to occur.
—Basem Wasef, Robb Report, 13 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for instigate
Cite this Entry
“Instigate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/instigate. Accessed 10 Jul. 2025.
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