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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 of provocateur
Examples of provocateur in a Sentence
Seija Rankin, HollywoodReporter, 31 May 2026
The Human Is Staying In The Picture (Mostly) Screenwriter and director Paul Schrader, at nearly 80 years old an unlikely technology provocateur, delivered a talk at AI on the Lot peppered with pot-stirring takes.
—Dade Hayes, Deadline, 31 May 2026
If, for David Lynch, ideas are like fish in a river, then for Danish provocateur Nicolas Winding Refn, those ideas are like chunks of excrement in an exploded sewage pipe.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 19 May 2026
He was also marked as a dangerous provocateur by Cuban officials.
—Rick Jervis, USA Today, 18 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for provocateur
Cite this Entry
“Provocateur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/provocateur. Accessed 13 Jun. 2026.
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