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provoke
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  • pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study   (source)
    provoke = cause (in reaction)
  • A little girl was driving home her cow, a plodding, dilatory, provoking creature in her behavior, but a valued companion for all that.   (source)
    provoking = tending to cause a reaction -- typically an emotional reaction such as anger
  • it was very provoking to find that...   (source)
    provoking = causing an emotional reaction
  • she has provoked me when I could not bear it;   (source)
    provoked = angered
  • She said that I had provoked her, had stirred up anger in her.†   (source)
  • It's not like Peeta attacked the Gamemakers, but at least he was provoked, too.†   (source)
  • Muslims widely considered it blasphemous and it provoked so much outrage that it seemed people were talking of little else.†   (source)
  • Looking and hoping that someone will provoke them.†   (source)
  • It might provoke them.†   (source)
  • At first Risa had been a tool to provoke Connor into a fight, but now Roland sees her as a prize.†   (source)
  • We tried to explain that Billy had started it, that we'd been provoked and were defending ourselves and didn't even aim to kill, but the cop wasn't interested in the nuances of the situation.†   (source)
  • Knowing that punishing Louie would only provoke his defiance, Louise took a surreptitious route toward reforming him.†   (source)
  • Ender Wiggin has provoked Bonzo Madrid beyond human endurance.†   (source)
  • She wasn't at Avilion either: I phoned Reenie to check, provoking an outburst: she'd always known something like this would happen, just because of the way Laura was.†   (source)
  • The pounding of their feet on the mow floor provoked the kennel dogs below into a chorus of muffled barks.†   (source)
  • I follow her around, trying to provoke her into talking to me, but there's really no use.†   (source)
  • These sessions provoked little more than arguments and raw emotion, which I suppose was their purpose.†   (source)
  • These folks have told me some of the funniest, saddest, and most thought-provoking stories I've ever heard.†   (source)
  • And with their one god Muslims are always causing troubles and provoking riots.†   (source)
  • This provoked Tate, who unleashed a torrent of racial slurs and threats.†   (source)
  • What could possibly provoke mirth, given that he had just a matter of weeks before he took his own life?†   (source)
  • Thomas was horrified by the whole affair—he couldn't help feeling responsible even though he'd never done anything to provoke Ben.†   (source)
  • She'd chosen those words to provoke a reaction.†   (source)
  • The column had never been much more than a bland recitation of guest lists, but its disappearance provoked a stinging rebuke from one of Savannah's leading socialites, Mrs. Vera Dutton Strong.†   (source)
  • Undoubtedly, she had been provoked, but no one was sitting within earshot to prove that.†   (source)
  • They think the chips caused the kidnapping, the murders, that somehow the chips provoked whoever did this, made the task more tempting.†   (source)
  • Not only have you struck him, you have provoked his asthma!†   (source)
  • The fact was that Rose hadn't complained of him hitting her in about four years—he had reformed after he broke her arm, and there was no reason to believe that he was more likely to strike out tonight than any other of the nights in the last four years when Rose had acted provoking.†   (source)
  • Try to be gracious, no matter how much I am provoked to behave otherwise.†   (source)
  • He'd been provoked.†   (source)
  • That this secret passageway to nowhere existed in our house did not comfort me; rather, it provoked me to imagine what there might be that was sufficiently threatening to hide from—and it is never comforting to imagine that.†   (source)
  • Chaol just provoked her ...though he had his good side, too.†   (source)
  • I've only had one guy come close to provoking a physical or emotional response from me once, and that turned out to be a self-induced delusion.†   (source)
  • "You are a wicked man, to provoke our Ser Alliser so," he scolded.†   (source)
  • Okonkwo was provoked to justifiable anger by his youngest wife, who went to plait her hair at her friend's house and did not return early enough to cook the afternoon meal.†   (source)
  • My machine cannot help but provoke curiosity.†   (source)
  • The countermanding of Lola's casting decision, and the laughter in the boys it provoked, made for a shift in the balance of power.†   (source)
  • It provoked cures galore; to ease the catarrh you boiled onions in milk blackened with pepper; for the congested passages you made a paste of boiled flour and nettles, wrapped it in a rag, and slapped it, sizzling, on the chest.†   (source)
  • "It seems to provoke her," she said.†   (source)
  • Once in a while, Hana would provoke a battle with George, just to show off her muscles.†   (source)
  • This attitude provoked scandalized comments among the ladies gathered there.†   (source)
  • By provoking his anger we may lose them all.†   (source)
  • "She's not a thing, she's a human being," I wanted to scream, but I knew that I should not provoke him.†   (source)
  • That's what really provokes them.†   (source)
  • HALE: Proctor, I cannot think God be provoked so grandly by such a petty cause.†   (source)
  • "Good question," I said, provoking horrified laughter from Kitsey, who was popular at school and —at nine—as pretty in her white-blonde way as Andy was plain.†   (source)
  • She may be selfish, stingy and underhanded, but she'll readily back down as long as you don't provoke her and make her unreasonable.†   (source)
  • This "achievement gap" is a phenomenon that has been observed over and over again, and it typically provokes one of two responses.†   (source)
  • The basic idea behind the possibles theory was simple, and didn't provoke much dispute.†   (source)
  • Same questions over and over, and me trying to pretend they're thought-provoking.†   (source)
  • Why else would they have destroyed the farm in such a spectacular manner, unless they wished to provoke you into chasing them?†   (source)
  • He had uttered these exact words so many times, and not once met with success, that a normal man would have given up on their power to provoke a meaningful response.†   (source)
  • The dream had provoked The Great Sadness and before he could even get out of bed, he was once again fighting his way through the despair that had devoured too many of his days.†   (source)
  • They didn't provoke any difficult memories.†   (source)
  • Growled when they chose; sulked, explained, demanded, strutted, cowered, cried and provoked each other to the edge of violence, then over.†   (source)
  • Essentially the Ousters had to be provoked into attacking, and the key to that provocation was the world of Hyperion.†   (source)
  • "I seem to recall hearing rumors that you provoked that attack," says Tobias.†   (source)
  • He looked at me as if anxious about what sort of reaction the information might provoke.†   (source)
  • Mameha had insisted on this to avoid provoking Hatsumomo.†   (source)
  • Lauren said something about you — she was trying to provoke me.†   (source)
  • But she reassures herself that Dimitri could easily have delivered the letter personally; the idea of him standing in the department, occupying the same space she occupies now, fills her with the same combination of desperation and lust he's always provoked.†   (source)
  • He had a peaceful, strong manner that did not provoke anger or invite fights.†   (source)
  • Perhaps this conversation brings on her hallucination, if that is what it is, or perhaps it provokes Aziz or some third party (their guide, for instance) into whatever he does, if anyone does anything.†   (source)
  • Oftentimes he studies us, copying our movements, and he seems to know which words will provoke us to laugh or talk back to him, or be shocked.†   (source)
  • She had expected to discover his anger, to provoke the bitterness, the recriminations.†   (source)
  • an afternoon of carnage unlike anything Vienna had ever seen, well, unlike anything it had seen since the fighting of the previous century, and of the centuries before that, which were of an entirely different and greater magnitude, Vienna being no stranger, in the annals of history, to war, and the militants had perhaps hoped to provoke a reaction against migrants from their own part of the world, who had been pouring into Vienna, and if that had been their hope then they had succeeded, for the young woman had learned of a mob that was intending to attack the migrants gathered near the zoo, everyone was talking and messaging about it, and she planned to join a human cordon t†   (source)
  • Sophie was so provoked that she asked them again.†   (source)
  • Unless she was trying to provoke trouble between us?†   (source)
  • Sean had decided, no matter what the potential gains, it was never worth provoking his wife.†   (source)
  • Finally, this could be an attempt to provoke or divert us, drawing our attention to this while they are preparing to spring a surprise somewhere else.†   (source)
  • I couldn't stop thinking about my dia's pen, though, and his pride-provoking words.†   (source)
  • Word of his cruelty spread throughout the region, provoking jealous admiration among the men of his class.†   (source)
  • But it took another explosion to provoke savage action against them.†   (source)
  • In Doraville, a suburb north of Atlanta, a group of Latino immigrants had provoked a public outcry by playing soccer in a town cemetery.†   (source)
  • I did not find a cyst but instead provoked terrific bleeding from the sites of the needle punctures.†   (source)
  • Lincoln's April 11 speech provoked more violent talk.†   (source)
  • Until that moment she had never been fully conscious of the weight and size of the drama that she had provoked when she was not yet eighteen, and that would pursue her until her death.†   (source)
  • Armansky felt so provoked by her lack of emotional response that sometimes he wanted to grab hold of her and shake her.†   (source)
  • His mother's words had provoked another train of thought in Paul—a duke's concern for all the people they'd lost this night.†   (source)
  • She seemed more normal to me but I was careful not to provoke her.†   (source)
  • It would be giving him permission to provoke me further.†   (source)
  • The recent proliferation on the slopes of Everest of latter —day Wilsons and Dennians-marginally qualified dreamers like some of my cohorts-is a phenomenon that has provoked strong criticism.†   (source)
  • I didn't see what had happened to provoke the punishment.†   (source)
  • It was as though the sirens heralded the presence of some cont rolling mechanism—a thing we would do well not to provoke with our contentiousness and spilled food.†   (source)
  • So many people, crammed in one house, would provoke suffocation.†   (source)
  • The news provoked a last gasp of collectivism from Ernst Doerfler, a prominent member of the doomed East German parliament, who called for an official ban on "McDonald's and similar abnormal garbage-makers."†   (source)
  • What did you do to provoke them?†   (source)
  • When they did run into him, Marcus always seemed to find a way to provoke Will, usually with a reference to Scott.†   (source)
  • But in Operating Theater 3, Hema and Stone managed to provoke each other.†   (source)
  • And, strangely, his words never provoked anyone.†   (source)
  • This was his first major offense, and the other party had provoked the fight.†   (source)
  • The incident provoked her into doing what she had never done before-abandon her duties.†   (source)
  • That night they camped on a ledge of rock above the plains and watched the lightning all along the horizon provoke from the seamless dark the distant mountain ranges again and again.†   (source)
  • "I wasn't provoking you," she said.†   (source)
  • They, too, need certainties and simple truths to make the multitudes understand, to provoke collective tears.†   (source)
  • Such wayward thinking, which has a long history, generally provokes a wayward response.†   (source)
  • One day he had stumbled while marching to class; the next day he was formally charged with 'breaking ranks while in formation, felonious assault, indiscriminate behavior, mopery, high treason, provoking, being a smart guy, listening to classical music and so on'.†   (source)
  • And someone almost always sneaked up behind someone else and clobbered them with it—usually Sam, because I was never violent until provoked—and we would hammer each other with them until they flew apart in yellow chunks and seeds.†   (source)
  • It was as if she were seeing how much it took to provoke a savage.†   (source)
  • On the first few shopping trips without Moody, I followed his instructions exactly, not wanting to provoke any anger or suspicion.†   (source)
  • I'm being saucy, but she's provoked me.†   (source)
  • Forgive my saying so, but the only redemption Prusias had last night was provoking you into acting insubordinate.†   (source)
  • I felt embarrassed and showed it by flushing deeply, which provoked more tittering.†   (source)
  • Nothing to provoke such a horrible, unthinkable act.†   (source)
  • Mrs. Nora Baines sang three stanzas of "The Old Rugged Cross," a somber, surefire tearjerker at any funeral, but at Seth's it failed to provoke emotion.†   (source)
  • don't you provoke me more than I provoke already.†   (source)
  • Why is Nikita Khrushchev trying to provoke the Americans into war?†   (source)
  • Bache and his kind would inevitably provoke measures to silence them, she had predicted to Mary Cranch.†   (source)
  • It was not so much respect for her privacy as it was the challenge she presented that provoked him to discover her from the woman alone rather than her surroundings.†   (source)
  • But a life-sized portrait of cricket hero Imran Khan on the tailgate, holding a bat aloft like a scepter, was a form of idol worship that provoked such acute national pride that few Pakistanis, even the most devout, could take offense.†   (source)
  • We address the controversies and issues, anxieties and assumptions, some highly emotional, provoked by language today, and our findings will be news to many.†   (source)
  • Her rash words provoked an uncomfortable silence.†   (source)
  • They can be fierce when provoked!†   (source)
  • He is baiting him a little, provoking him to attack.†   (source)
  • What would Rinehart do about this, I thought, and knowing, determined not to let her provoke me to violence.†   (source)
  • There's also a pensiveness that seems painful for you, yet you rarely give vent to the anger that pain must provoke.†   (source)
  • This hit another nerve with the crowd, provoking more outcries.†   (source)
  • Prefects were responsible for preventing disputes, not provoking them.†   (source)
  • Cesar's answer was intended to stifle, not provoke Angel's inquisitiveness, but it served only to encourage more questions.†   (source)
  • He was intentionally provoking the Greeks, hoping for battle.†   (source)
  • But it did not provoke her daughter.†   (source)
  • For some reason, this remark also provoked laughter and even the teacher joined in.†   (source)
  • Not Sure Why I felt the need to provoke her.†   (source)
  • Deo's father was easily provoked, as a rule, but he didn't answer.†   (source)
  • I don't want to provoke an incident.†   (source)
  • Very stimulating and thought-provoking.†   (source)
  • "Opportunist actions" that would provoke Nazi reprisals should be avoided.†   (source)
  • It was the first national coverage of the event, and the story provoked a variety of responses.†   (source)
  • They burned hootches and shot chickens and trampled paddies and tore up fences and dumped dirt into wells and provoked madness.†   (source)
  • April grinned, satisfied at having provoked Jalil.†   (source)
  • Maturity's given Boyle the sense to wait until he's well provoked, and rare is it for him to throw the first punch.†   (source)
  • Often his unpopular views, expressed disdainfully and with an air of condescension, provoked his listeners to anger.†   (source)
  • She showed him the bankbook then, and again the next day, and again a few days after that, trying to provoke a response.†   (source)
  • But the improper conduct of individual States provoked several Indian wars.†   (source)
  • Why must you insist on always provoking the police?†   (source)
  • The Emancipation Proclamation provoked a new level of consciousness about the relationship of slavery to the war.†   (source)
  • It rained so hard, so long and so incessantly that the thought of a period of no rain provoked a mild wonder.†   (source)
  • Beneath it she wore only black, for all other colors, even brown, were haram and could provoke a thrashing by the husbah.†   (source)
  • He's trying to provoke me," Pig answered.†   (source)
  • I knew I should grin and say, "Why no—it's just nature," or some other disarming remark to avoid provoking him.†   (source)
  • Sam raised his lance and a jagged line of light ran up into the heavens, provoking a dozen more to descend upon the field.†   (source)
  • This provoked badinage between Minnie and me, very Southern in flavor, which Leslie obviously found charming.†   (source)
  • My panic grew, and my guilt, and my feeling that I was provoking my own destruction.†   (source)
  • He may say it to provoke his wife.†   (source)
  • He began to squeeze his way through the crush on the rear platform, provoking kicks and more abuse.†   (source)
  • He would be so provoked he might just take a switch to her legs.†   (source)
  • They had the same look of hardened hunger that had pained her yesterday but today she felt faintly provoked.†   (source)
  • His demonstrations have been designed to call attention to injustice, designed to provoke change; designed to stir reform.†   (source)
  • The Federalist leaders insisted the Embargo was an attempt by Jefferson to ruin New England prosperity, to provoke England to war, and to aid the French.†   (source)
  • Now she was analyzing the farm, and the organization of crops, in a way that made him feel humble, but also provoked him to defend himself.†   (source)
  • 'It's VERY provoking,' Humpty Dumpty said after a long silence, looking away from Alice as he spoke, 'to be called an egg--VERY!'   (source)
    provoking = irritating (causing an angry reaction)
  • They're famous philosophers who speak and write extremely wise, thought-provoking words of wisdom.†   (source)
  • The image that had provoked his anger kept recurring.†   (source)
  • He knew Snape was trying to provoke him; he had done this before.†   (source)
  • Sometimes they would provoke us, especially right before the visitors were to come.†   (source)
  • The case provoked rounds of self-recrimination.†   (source)
  • Well, she provoked that one girl who hit her.†   (source)
  • Snape was trying to provoke him into telling the truth.†   (source)
  • Zeitoun had no idea what he had done to provoke the man.†   (source)
  • Were the setups meant to instigate certain conflicts or provoke reactions for WICKED's studies?†   (source)
  • Sometimes I believe it is precisely his intent to provoke me into impugning myself.†   (source)
  • Provoke him into an attack?" he asks me.†   (source)
  • "Don't provoke him, Laila jo," Mariam said.†   (source)
  • 'Malfoy provoked us,' said Harry stiffly.†   (source)
  • Out into the ether of the world to wait for the circumstances that would provoke its reappearance?†   (source)
  • I want to know what you've done to Mameha lately to provoke her.†   (source)
  • It's a voice that provokes first irritation and then eagerness.†   (source)
  • Now comes the difficult part: you must provoke the animal that is afflicting you.†   (source)
  • I can't use magic for fear of provoking him to do the same.†   (source)
  • Better not to provoke it now by mentioning a harmless Quaker.†   (source)
  • The replies are vague, but are enough to provoke slight optimism.†   (source)
  • He said it coolly, but he was clearly trying to provoke me.†   (source)
  • I remembered the day on the hill I had pelted Hassan with pomegranates and tried to provoke him.†   (source)
  • Such rumors inevitably provoked anti-ecumenism riots and, of course, inspired new witticisms.†   (source)
  • But as often, the Fugees seemed to provoke hostility.†   (source)
  • I'll see whether that provokes something an unnatural response, any kind of reaction.†   (source)
  • Glen looked at Claude to see if he'd meant to provoke him, but Claude looked genuinely sincere.†   (source)
  • The Ranger verdict provoked a bitter public outcry.†   (source)
  • And this child's reluctance to answer her questions had provoked her.†   (source)
  • "So, they provoke us and now pretend nothing has happened?" the captain growled.†   (source)
  • But how to provoke, how to stimulate purchases—that's the conversion rate.†   (source)
  • Any attempt to protect oneself—ducking, shielding the face—provoked greater violence.†   (source)
  • Without fail, the dream provokes pure terror.†   (source)
  • He shrugged, openly antagonistic now, provoking her purposely, she suspected.†   (source)
  • The essence of the plan was that the Ousters had to be provoked into attacking the Hegemony.†   (source)
  • And them trying to pretend they're thought-provoking.†   (source)
  • He claimed that the local workmen were law-abiding and would not have rioted unless provoked.†   (source)
  • That which a deity demands of a mortal (and the fear provoked by the demand).†   (source)
  • When your animal has been roused, work in all bad faith to provoke a border intrusion.†   (source)
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