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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
Dominic Patten, Deadline, 3 June 2026
Take our once respected monarchy, for instance, which was instigated through a popular referendum as part of national independence in 1905.
—Ola Morris Innset, The Dial, 2 June 2026
Rather than instigating a change, Palace instead held firm.
—Matt Woosnam, New York Times, 28 May 2026
Fourth, special interest groups have been found to instigate coordinated efforts to influence the prominence of stories on social news sites for political or financial reasons.
—Steve Paulussen, Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for instigate
Cite this Entry
“Instigate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/instigate. Accessed 16 Jun. 2026.
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