as in rebel
a person who stirs up public feelings especially of discontent
a calculating provocateur, she has made a career out of controversy for its own sake
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Examples of provocateur in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Yes, there were venerable antecedents to all these arguments, but what had once been the province of the provocateur was now something of a scholarly consensus.
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Manvir Singh, The New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2024
When she was cast as some sort of unstoppable punching machine last week by pundits and provocateurs who had never seen her fight before, opponents and teammates who know her were shocked by the characterization.
—Greg Beacham, The Christian Science Monitor, 9 Aug. 2024
After being harassed by a social media provocateur while waiting for a commercial flight at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, Griner was given the option to fly charter for the remainder of the Mercury’s road games in 2023.
—Jason Clinkscales, Sportico.com, 19 Aug. 2024
Since Gamergate, right-wing provocateurs have painted Democrats and liberals as cringe.
—Makena Kelly, WIRED, 1 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for provocateur 
Manvir Singh, The New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2024
When she was cast as some sort of unstoppable punching machine last week by pundits and provocateurs who had never seen her fight before, opponents and teammates who know her were shocked by the characterization.
—Greg Beacham, The Christian Science Monitor, 9 Aug. 2024
After being harassed by a social media provocateur while waiting for a commercial flight at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, Griner was given the option to fly charter for the remainder of the Mercury’s road games in 2023.
—Jason Clinkscales, Sportico.com, 19 Aug. 2024
Since Gamergate, right-wing provocateurs have painted Democrats and liberals as cringe.
—Makena Kelly, WIRED, 1 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for provocateur
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.
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“Provocateur.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/provocateur. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.
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