instigate
verb
Did you know?
It's time to investigate the true meaning of instigate. Instigate is often used as a synonym of incite (as in "siblings instigating a fight"), but the two words differ slightly in their overall usage. Incite usually stresses an act of stirring something up that one did not necessarily initiate ("the court's decision incited riots"), while instigate implies responsibility for initiating or encouraging someone else's action, and usually suggests dubious or underhanded intent ("he was charged with instigating a conspiracy"). Coming from a form of the Latin verb instigare ("to urge on or provoke"), instigate stepped into English in the 1500s, roughly a century after incite.
Examples of instigate in a Sentence
Kayti Burt, Time, 2 Apr. 2025
Read the full Taurus Daily Horoscope Gemini (May 21 - June 21)
Ready to instigate bringing people together?
—USA TODAY, 20 Mar. 2025
Back in Montana, every trip Jacob and company take to Bozeman and back is inevitably fraught with peril — if not instigated by dastardly rich guy Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) and/or his henchman Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn), then by the pitiless nature of extreme weather.
—Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times, 14 Mar. 2025
Events in both works are instigated by a reunion and propelled by family feuds that reopen old wounds.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for instigate
Cite this Entry
“Instigate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/instigate. Accessed 8 Apr. 2025.
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