Sample sentences for PROVOCATION

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Definition

actions that cause a reaction—especially anger or violence

or:

the act of causing an angry or violent reaction

Police are expected to hold their temper regardless of the degree of verbal provocation.

the result was a provocation of vigorous investigation
...you told me never to use words like that except in ex-extreme provocation, and Francis provocated me enough to knock his block off-
Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird

provocation = something that causes a violent or angry reaction

"Well I don't," said Uncle Jack, "not unless there's extreme provocation connected with 'em."
Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird

provocation = something that causes a violent or angry reaction

To the Nazarene they were hours of insult, provocation, and slow dying.
Lew Wallace -- Ben Hur
Essentially the Ousters had to be provoked into attacking, and the key to that provocation was the world of Hyperion.
Dan Simmons -- Hyperion
After that series of provocations, the city exploded into a riot.
John Howard Griffin -- Black Like Me
You must have had some provocation.
Cormac McCarthy -- All the Pretty Horses
He had swept it out of existence, as it seemed, without any provocation, as a boy might crush an ant hill, in the mere wantonness of power.
H.G. Wells -- The War of the Worlds
This was one provocation too many.
Stieg Larsson -- The Girl Who Played with Fire
His cheeks and the tip of his nose were covered with twitchy blood vessels, ready to flush at the least provocation.
Abraham Verghese -- Cutting for Stone
I cannot believe that he has done this deed, unless in self-defence, or on some justifiable provocation.
James Fenimore Cooper -- The Prairie
On the present occasion, he was reluctant to proceed to extremities, although the provocation was so great.
James Fenimore Cooper -- The Deerslayer
The incidents were always preceded by some kind of provocation.
Stieg Larsson -- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
She had not planned it, but the question, which she had quite forgotten, from the Book of Common Prayer, was a provocation.
Ian McEwan -- Atonement
Most people, fortunately, do not respond with murderous out-bursts even under extreme provocation.
Truman Capote -- In Cold Blood
It was a composure born of extreme provocation.
Arundhati Roy -- The God of Small Things
True; but I have been tossed to and fro in doubt if I ought, after such strong provocation.
Thomas Hardy -- The Return of the Native
He hurried through his plea of provocation, and then he, too, started in about my soul.
Albert Camus -- The Stranger
If they agree to a truce, they observe it so religiously that no provocations will make them break it.
Thomas More -- Utopia

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