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provoked

   Also found in: Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.
pro·voke  (pr-vk)
tr.v. pro·voked, pro·vok·ing, pro·vokes
1. To incite to anger or resentment.
2. To stir to action or feeling.
3. To give rise to; evoke: provoke laughter.
4. To bring about deliberately; induce: provoke a fight.

[Middle English provoken, from Old French provoquer, from Latin prvocre, to challenge : pr-, forth; see pro-1 + vocre, to call; see wekw- in Indo-European roots.]
Synonyms: provoke, incite, excite, stimulate, arouse, rouse, stir1
These verbs mean to move a person to action or feeling or to summon something into being by so moving a person. Provoke often merely states the consequences produced: "Let my presumption not provoke thy wrath" (Shakespeare). "A situation which in the country would have provoked meetings" (John Galsworthy).
To incite is to provoke and urge on: Members of the opposition incited the insurrection.
Excite implies a strong or emotional reaction: The movie will fail; the plot excites little interest or curiosity.
Stimulate suggests renewed vigor of action as if by spurring or goading: "Our vigilance was stimulated by our finding traces of a large ... encampment" (Francis Parkman).
To arouse means to awaken, as from inactivity or apathy; rouse means the same, but more strongly implies vigorous or emotional excitement: "In a democratic society like ours, relief must come through an aroused popular conscience that sears the conscience of the people's representatives" (Felix Frankfurter). "The oceangoing steamers ... roused in him wild and painful longings" (Arnold Bennett).
To stir is to cause activity, strong but usually agreeable feelings, trouble, or commotion: "It was him as stirred up th' young woman to preach last night" (George Eliot). "I have seldom been so ... stirred by any piece of writing" (Mark Twain). See Also Synonyms at annoy.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Adj.1.provoked - incited, especially deliberately, to anger; "aggravated by passive resistance"; "the provoked animal attacked the child"
angry - feeling or showing anger; "angry at the weather"; "angry customers"; "an angry silence"; "sending angry letters to the papers"


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
(3) a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults;
Such excess of virtue and good-nature on the part of a ship always provoked my mistrust.
I am, indeed, provoked at the artifice of this unprincipled woman; what stronger proof of her dangerous abilities can be given than this perversion of Reginald's judgment, which when he entered the house was so decidedly against her
 
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