Synonyms of fomenting

fomenting 1 of 2

adjective

as in provoking

Related Words

• provoking
• inciting
• inflammatory
• instigating
• incendiary
• agitating
• provocative
• subversive
• exciting
• violent
• reactionary
• wild
• rabble-rousing
• revolutionary
• extreme
• radical
• extremist
• ultra
• fanatic
• rabid
• revolutionist

Dissimilar Words

• moderate
• conservative
• temperate
• traditional
• conventional
• progressive
• liberal
• orthodox
• middle-of-the-road
• nonrevolutionary
• unrevolutionary

fomenting

2 of 2

verb

present participle of foment

as in promoting

to bring (something volatile or intense) into being

John Adams's wife, Abigail, told him that if women were not remembered by the new American government, they would "foment a Rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice or Representation"

Synonyms & Similar Words

• provoking
• promoting
• raising
• triggering
• inciting
• instigating
• encouraging
• abetting
• fermenting
• brewing
• cultivating
• stimulating
• picking
• stirring (up)
• whipping (up)
• fostering
• furthering
• setting in motion
• sowing
• advancing
• nurturing
• detonating
• forwarding
• inflaming
• motivating
• nourishing
• inspiring
• galvanizing
• rousing
• activating
• setting off
• exciting
• energizing
• setting
• enlivening
• quickening
• firing
• invigorating
• vitalizing
• jazzing (up)
• pepping (up)
• livening (up)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• regulating
• inhibiting
• restraining
• holding
• curbing
• checking
• discouraging
• constraining
• taming
• settling
• subduing
• quieting
• bridling
• soothing
• calming
• reining (in)
• allaying
• stilling
• tranquilizing

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of fomenting

Verb

Last week, Ethiopia’s Army chief accused Egypt, Eritrea, and the Sudanese Armed Forces of fomenting the new insurgency. — Ishaan Tharoor, New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2026

Everyone here almost too respectfully gives one another their turn to speak, the conversation rarely fomenting into argument or overlapping chatter. — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 3 Oct. 2026

But with the Iran war both sucking away American resources and fomenting regional instability, conditions have allowed for a return of the notorious practice. — Aparajita Saxena, CNBC, 20 Aug. 2026

El-Sayed is also seeking to be the first Muslim senator at a time when some Republicans are fomenting unrestrained Islamophobia. — Russell Berman, The Atlantic, 29 July 2026

In recent years, Russia has used NIS as a geopolitical tool to fund a range of malign influence operations in Serbia, from fomenting protests to fueling anti-American propaganda. — Ilan Berman, Forbes.com, 20 July 2026

The role of social media in fomenting a more violent political discourse comes up time and time again – referenced in parliamentary reports and by countless MPs. — Issy Ronald, CNN Money, 14 July 2026

And in this rote, dutiful steadiness, I was struck by the patient sincerity of it all—and by a sense that these believers were already fomenting, in admittedly small numbers, the kind of unity that Esperanto’s skeptics say the language could never help facilitate. — Katie Thornton, Harpers Magazine, 26 May 2026

Sometimes, the frame is transfixed by haunting, practically subliminal changes fomenting on a subconscious level, as Dua is shaken from within, and the remarkable Matoshi doles out nuggets of recognizable emotion from beneath her rock-hard exterior. — Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 13 May 2026