Dictionary entry details
• PROVOKE (verb)
Meaning:
Call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses)
Classified under:
Verbs of feeling
Synonyms:
provoke; evoke; elicit; arouse; enkindle; kindle; fire; raise
Context examples:
arouse pity / raise a smile / evoke sympathy
Hypernyms (to "provoke" is one way to...):
create; make (make or cause to be or to become)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "provoke"):
anger (make angry)
discomfit; discompose; disconcert; untune; upset (cause to lose one's composure)
shame (cause to be ashamed)
bruise; hurt; injure; offend; spite; wound (hurt the feelings of)
overcome; overpower; overtake; overwhelm; sweep over; whelm (overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli)
interest (excite the curiosity of; engage the interest of)
excite (arouse or elicit a feeling)
excite; shake; shake up; stimulate; stir (stir the feelings, emotions, or peace of)
fire up; heat; ignite; inflame; stir up; wake (arouse or excite feelings and passions)
strike a chord; touch a chord (evoke a reaction, response, or emotion)
ask for; invite (increase the likelihood of)
draw (elicit responses, such as objections, criticism, applause, etc.)
rekindle (arouse again)
infatuate (arouse unreasoning love or passion in and cause to behave in an irrational way)
prick (to cause a sharp emotional pain)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Meaning:
Evoke or provoke to appear or occur
Classified under:
Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing
Synonyms:
call forth; evoke; kick up; provoke
Context example:
Her behavior provoked a quarrel between the couple
Hypernyms (to "provoke" is one way to...):
cause; do; make (give rise to; cause to happen or occur, not always intentionally)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "provoke"):
pick (provoke)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Meaning:
Provide the needed stimulus for
Classified under:
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing
Synonyms:
provoke; stimulate
Hypernyms (to "provoke" is one way to...):
challenge (issue a challenge to)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "provoke"):
entice; lure; tempt (provoke someone to do something through (often false or exaggerated) promises or persuasion)
rejuvenate (cause (a stream or river) to erode, as by an uplift of the land)
jog (stimulate to remember)
incite; instigate; set off; stir up (provoke or stir up)
agitate; foment; stir up (try to stir up public opinion)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE
Sentence example:
They provoke him to write the letter
Meaning:
Annoy continually or chronically
Classified under:
Verbs of feeling
Synonyms:
hassle; harry; harass; chivy; chivvy; chevy; chevvy; beset; molest; plague; provoke
Context examples:
He is known to harry his staff when he is overworked / This man harasses his female co-workers
Hypernyms (to "provoke" is one way to...):
annoy; bother; chafe; devil; get at; get to; gravel; irritate; nark; nettle; rag; rile; vex (cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "provoke"):
goad; needle (goad or provoke,as by constant criticism)
bedevil; crucify; dun; frustrate; rag; torment (treat cruelly)
haze (harass by imposing humiliating or painful tasks, as in military institutions)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Sentence example:
The performance is likely to provoke Sue
