PROVOKE

provoke, stimulate

(verb) provide the needed stimulus for

provoke, evoke, call forth, kick up

(verb) evoke or provoke to appear or occur; “Her behavior provoked a quarrel between the couple”

arouse, elicit, enkindle, kindle, evoke, fire, raise, provoke

(verb) call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses); “arouse pity”; “raise a smile”; “evoke sympathy”

harass, hassle, harry, chivy, chivvy, chevy, chevvy, beset, plague, molest, provoke

(verb) annoy continually or chronically; “He is known to harry his staff when he is overworked”; “This man harasses his female co-workers”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

provoke (third-person singular simple present provokes, present participle provoking, simple past and past participle provoked)

(transitive) To cause someone to become annoyed or angry.

(transitive) To bring about a reaction.

(obsolete) To appeal.

Synonyms

• (bring about a reaction): bring about, discompose, egg on, engender, evoke, grill, incite, induce, inflame, instigate, invoke, rouse, set off, stir up, whip up; see also incite

Source: Wiktionary

Pro*voke", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Provoked; p. pr. & vb. n. Provoking.] Etym: [F. provoquer, L. provocare to call forth; pro forth + vocare to call, fr. vox, vocis, voice, cry, call. See Voice.]

Definition: To call forth; to call into being or action; esp., to incense to action, a faculty or passion, as love, hate, or ambition; hence, commonly, to incite, as a person, to action by a challenge, by taunts, or by defiance; to exasperate; to irritate; to offend intolerably; to cause to retaliate. Obey his voice, provoke him not. Ex. xxiii. 21. Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. Eph. vi. 4. Such acts Of contumacy will provoke the Highest To make death in us live. Milton. Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust Gray. To the poet the meaning is what he pleases to make it, what it provokes in his own soul. J. Burroughs.

Syn.

– To irritate; arouse; stir up; awake; excite; incite; anger. See Irritate.

Pro*voke", v. i.

1. To cause provocation or anger.

2. To appeal.

Note: [A Latinism] [Obs.] Dryden.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition