provocateur

noun

pro·vo·ca·teur prō-ˌvä-kə-ˈtər

Synonyms of provocateur next

: agent provocateur

: one who provokes

a political provocateur

Did you know?

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."

Examples of provocateur in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Supreme among noisemakers is Yoko Ono, who first made her name as a principled provocateur in the downtown New York scene—next to her, Cage looked timid—and then shot to global fame through her relationship with John Lennon. —

Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2024 Her fabric sculpture is furniture reimagined through a provocateur’s lens. —

Evan Moffitt, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2024 Tangent Right-wing provocateurs have spread a string of conspiracy theories about the reason for the bridge collapse. —

Sara Dorn, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024 Vice got its start in Montreal in the 1990s as an alternative punk publication co-founded by Gavin McInnes, a provocateur who went on to found the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist militant organization closely aligned with the American far right. —

Daniel Arkin, NBC News, 23 Feb. 2024 This time, the main provocateur was Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right politician who has publicly celebrated Jewish terrorists. —

Aluf Benn, Foreign Affairs, 7 Feb. 2024 And then there's Tucker Carlson, the conservative provocateur. —

Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 3 Jan. 2024 Online and off, old-fashioned sexists and trollish provocateurs alike have been emboldened by Trump’s ability to say grotesque things without consequences. —

Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 4 Dec. 2023 Teasing is also impressive, demanding social savvy and foresight: To push past others’ psychological limits, successful provocateurs must be intimately familiar with them. —

Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 14 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'provocateur.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.