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In "provocateur," a word borrowed directly from French, one sees the English verb "provoke." Both "provoke" and "provocateur" derive from Latin provocare, meaning "to call forth." Why do we say "provocateur" for one who incites another to action, instead of simply "provoker"? Perhaps it's because of "agent provocateur," a term of French origin that literally means "provoking agent." Both "agent provocateur" and the shortened "provocateur" can refer to someone (such as an undercover police officer or a political operative) whose job is to incite people to break the law so that they can be arrested, but only "provocateur" is used in English with the more general sense of "one who provokes."
Examples of provocateur in a Sentence
Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times, 23 Apr. 2025
Yoko, a new biography about Ono by David Sheff, opens with a prologue about Cut Piece, introducing her—as provocateur, martyr, and social experimenter—through the lens of her own creation.
—Beatrice Loayza, ARTnews.com, 26 Mar. 2025
In January, at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, a right-wing provocateur chased him down to press him for an interview.
—Justin Worland, TIME, 25 Feb. 2025
The case at the center of the lawsuit does not name the Brazilian whose Rumble account Justice Moraes has sought to block, but the details are identical to those of Allan dos Santos, a right-wing Brazilian provocateur who has been living in the United States since 2021.
—Jack Nicas, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for provocateur
Cite this Entry
“Provocateur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/provocateur. Accessed 28 Apr. 2025.
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