agent provocateur

noun

Definition of agent provocateurnext
as in rebel

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of agent provocateur The Italian Marco Materazzi was an agent provocateur, tossing out words about Zidane’s family like a grenade set to spew forth a red mist. — Amy Lawrence, New York Times, 31 May 2026 And for good reason; Villanueva spent his four years in office more as an agent provocateur than a public safety official. — The Editorial Board, Daily News, 13 May 2026 Members of the crowd accused Epps of being an agent provocateur, which later helped spur the conspiracy theories about him. — Justin Jouvenal, Washington Post, 9 Jan. 2024 Anyone who maligns the sultan is immediately thought to be an agent provocateur working for the sultan, and probably is. — Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 30 Sep. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for agent provocateur
  1. rebel
  2. insurgent
  3. extremist
  4. troublemaker
  5. revolutionary
  6. booster
  7. promoter
  8. apostle
Noun
  • The latest conflict between the Saudis and the Houthis began last month after the rebels seized key areas along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a critical waterway for oil shipments.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 16 Oct. 2026
  • The latest conflict between the Saudis and the Houthis began last month after the rebels seized key areas along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a critical waterway for Gulf oil shipments.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of rebel
Noun
  • They’re seen as oligarchs, as the people with wealth and power, controlling our lives—not as outsider insurgents.
    — Nicholas Lemann, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2026
  • Others look further back to early and sporadic insurgent activity in 1964, before the UDI, or to 1965, the year of the UDI (November 11) itself.
    — Chinatsu Tsuji, Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of insurgent
Noun
  • Muslim students should not be expected to answer for extremists who claim to speak in the name of Islam.
    — Rabbi Bruce D. Forman, Sun Sentinel, 13 Oct. 2026
  • The groups similarly present themselves as armed community defenders against the government or right-wing extremists, but continue to find members who get in trouble with law enforcement.
    — Hudson Crozier, The Washington Examiner, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of extremist
Noun
  • The protests against the underfunding of schools — many of them struggling with dilapidated facilities and insufficient staff — have drawn troublemakers not concerned about the aims of the protest movement as well as unions and political groups.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Hiller plays Aldrict, an old-world vampire who has crossed paths with Liz several times over the centuries and is a bit of a troublemaker.
    — Peter White, Deadline, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of troublemaker
Noun
  • The great innovator of fashion photography, the revolutionary, was also a strict traditionalist.
    — Vince Aletti, New Yorker, 10 Oct. 2026
  • Chambers is a trust-fund revolutionary with unusually deep pockets.
    — Rich Cohen, Air Mail, 10 Oct. 2026
Definition of revolutionary
Noun
  • The statement said the weapon separated from its booster rocket at the planned altitude, then descended and maneuvered both vertically and horizontally before hitting a test target.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 8 Oct. 2026
  • The anti-catalog exposed, after the fact of the Bicentennial, the grotesqueries of corporate beneficence and private boosters that had supplemented the government’s project.
    — Anna Kornbluh, ARTnews.com, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of booster
Noun
  • By the time jokes start flying, about 12,300 tickets will have been purchased, said Creston Thornton, president of promoter Live Nation’s mountain region.
    — Michael Deeds, Idaho Statesman, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Canny has decades of experience in the rock world, variously serving as a talent buyer, a concert promoter, an artist-management company VP, and the founder of an artist-representative firm.
    — News Desk, Artforum, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of promoter
Noun
  • Every night, after Jesus died on the cross, my apostles gently helped me down from the chain-link fence to which I had been lashed.
    — Victor Garber, Vulture, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Bethsaida, close to Jesus' ministry in Capernaum, was once the home of the apostles Peter, Andrew and Philip.
    — Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of apostle

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Cite this Entry

“Agent provocateur.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/agent%20provocateur. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on agent provocateur

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about agent provocateur

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