Both Uses of
provoke
in
Nineteen Minutes
- I assumed that she was lying again-that Peter had been the one to shoot Matt unprovoked.†
Chpt 2unprovoked = not justified or explained as an understandable reaction to another actionstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unprovoked means not and reverses the meaning of provoked. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- He'd been provoked.†
Chpt 2 *provoked = caused (a reaction)
Definition:
to cause a reaction — often an emotional reaction like anger, and sometimes done on purpose