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Recent Examples of agent provocateur
There is the buffer, the confidante, the agent provocateur.
—
George Caulkin, New York Times, 7 July 2025
But De Niro’s attempt at playing agent provocateur stumbled badly: His decision to stand outside the New York Trump trial cost the actor his credibility.
—Armond White, National Review, 5 June 2024
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
The Globoplay Original, produced by the company’s journalism arm, examines the lives of those adjacent to the faction through interviews with the contingents’ defenders, defectors, sociologists and an agent provocateur that develops carefully-orchestrated chaos.
—Holly Jones, Variety, 20 Mar. 2023
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
The last dispatch from the alien/agent provocateur known as Greg Tate beamed out from perhaps his most inconspicuous dwelling.
—Tirhakah Love, Vulture, 14 Dec. 2021
At the same time, agents provocateurs played a significant role in the turbulence.
—Adam Hochschild, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2019
George Caulkin, New York Times, 7 July 2025
But De Niro’s attempt at playing agent provocateur stumbled badly: His decision to stand outside the New York Trump trial cost the actor his credibility.
—Armond White, National Review, 5 June 2024
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
The Globoplay Original, produced by the company’s journalism arm, examines the lives of those adjacent to the faction through interviews with the contingents’ defenders, defectors, sociologists and an agent provocateur that develops carefully-orchestrated chaos.
—Holly Jones, Variety, 20 Mar. 2023
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
The last dispatch from the alien/agent provocateur known as Greg Tate beamed out from perhaps his most inconspicuous dwelling.
—Tirhakah Love, Vulture, 14 Dec. 2021
At the same time, agents provocateurs played a significant role in the turbulence.
—Adam Hochschild, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for agent provocateur
Noun
-
Last December, armed rebels previously aligned with terror groups finally ousted Assad from power after a 14 year civil war.—
Lucia I Suarez Sang,
CBS News,
11 Jan. 2026
-
There was a buffer zone where French soldiers were and then the north was held by rebel groups.—
Jay Harris,
New York Times,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Even that 2016 victory didn’t last long — Assad was unceremoniously forced out of the country by insurgents in 2024, settling in Moscow for a quiet life in exile.—
Timothy Nerozzi,
The Washington Examiner,
18 Jan. 2026
-
In the eighties, Petro was a member of the M-19, urban insurgents who caught the world’s attention by taking the American Ambassador and more than a dozen other foreign diplomats hostage for two months.—
Jon Lee Anderson,
New Yorker,
15 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Republicans pounced on the opportunity to paint Democrats, especially those in vulnerable seats, as extremists.—
Andrea Castillo,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Jan. 2026
-
Once more, police made desultory enquiries and soon lost interest, their investigative resources stretched thin by a recent string of bombings in London by Irish republican extremists.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
16 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Iris Apatow and Costa D'Angelo are the latest troublemakers to stir the pot at Baird.—
Allison DeGrushe,
Entertainment Weekly,
14 Jan. 2026
-
His older brother, Leonard Kibrick, had played the main troublemaker in the series, giving Spanky (George McFarland), Alfalfa (Carl Switzer), Buckwheat (Billie Thomas) and Darla (Darla Hood) a hard time, before Bond replaced him in 1936.—
Mike Barnes,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
In the film, Leonardo DiCaprio plays Bob Ferguson, a former revolutionary who must save his teenage daughter after she’s kidnapped by the merciless army officer, Colonel Lockjaw (played by Sean Penn).—
Jazz Tangcay,
Variety,
21 Jan. 2026
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Leader of the Pink Tide Chávez, a former army officer inspired by Marxist thinkers and revolutionaries such as Simón Bolivar and Fidel Castro, was one of the most consequential political figures in recent Latin American history.—
Ian James,
Los Angeles Times,
19 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Citizens plans to build about 52 miles of new transmission mains, seven storage tanks and four booster stations to pipe water to Lebanon.—
Sophie Hartley,
IndyStar,
12 Jan. 2026
-
Governor Jeb Bush, a longtime booster, sat in the front row, moved to tears.—
Dexter Filkins,
New Yorker,
12 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Thornton, a longtime Eagle resident who co-founded The Big Easy in 2000 — now called the Knitting Factory Concert House in downtown Boise — is the president of promoter Live Nation’s mountain region.—
Michael Deeds,
Idaho Statesman,
22 Jan. 2026
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And King was the most prominent promoter of this approach.—
Gal Beckerman,
The Atlantic,
19 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
But this year should see the 564-foot-tall Tower of Jesus of Christ, the basilica’s 18th and final spire (the 17 shorter ones are dedicated to the 12 apostles, four Evangelists and the Virgin Mary), finished in time for the centenary of architect Antoni Gaudí’s death in June.—
Oscar Holland,
CNN Money,
1 Jan. 2026
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His death leaves a vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve that Oaks will fill in the coming months, likely by calling a new apostle from a lower-tier leadership council.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
27 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Agent provocateur.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/agent%20provocateur. Accessed 23 Jan. 2026.
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