How to Use antagonize in a Sentence

antagonize

verb
  • He didn't mean to antagonize you.
  • Her comments antagonized many people.
  • If the longshoremen’s strike drags on long enough and causes shortages that antagonize American consumers, pressure could grow on Biden to change course and intervene.
    Paul Wiseman, Fortune, 2 Oct. 2024
  • The best means of achieving control is to win back the hearts and minds of Hongkongers, not to continue to antagonize them.
    Time, 2 July 2019
  • That's when the neighbor kept putting his arms out antagonizing the dog.
    John Benson, cleveland.com, 1 June 2017
  • The Aztecs annoy and antagonize teams out of their flow, their comfort zone and, often, their on-court minds.
    Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Mar. 2023
  • Smith said Parks began to antagonize the occupants of the golf cart.
    Bree Burkitt, azcentral, 10 July 2019
  • But both of them started playing back to the crowd, swatting the crowd away and antagonizing them.
    EW.com, 6 Nov. 2023
  • Each student has been asked to turn in one tweet designed to antagonize Trump.
    Diana Pearl, PEOPLE.com, 20 Feb. 2018
  • The man who once did his share of antagonizing Crips is earning his karma back, and more.
    Cindy Chang, Los Angeles Times, 9 June 2024
  • When Aaron became the leader of a local group with the same mission, the brothers were once again zealous to the point of antagonizing.
    Benjamin Wallace, Daily Intelligencer, 12 July 2017
  • But Marquardt said police were unable to arrest him, and that the staff was afraid to antagonize him by taking him to court.
    Adi Robertson, The Verge, 29 June 2018
  • Elon seems to be going out of his way to antagonize this core audience.
    Joe Lorio, Car and Driver, 20 Dec. 2022
  • The question is how many of them are willing to openly antagonize Ryan by doing it.
    Dara Lind, Vox, 9 May 2018
  • Rollins is known for her bluntness, which wins her fans but can also antagonize.
    Washington Post, 27 Oct. 2021
  • Yes, if the result is going to be antagonizing all the couple’s friends.
    Miss Manners | Judith Martin, Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin, Anchorage Daily News, 4 June 2023
  • Learning not to antagonize him could be a game-changer.
    Carolyn Hax, The Seattle Times, 26 June 2017
  • Pop was antagonizing the room, and being pelted with beer, whiskey bottles, bras, and shoes.
    Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2019
  • The exchange went as follows: Rose: As a member of the media, our job is to analyze, not antagonize.
    Andrew Joseph, For The Win, 2 May 2018
  • Instead, the campaign came to believe that Amy despised Hillary and then antagonized her.
    Rachael Combe, The Cut, 20 Apr. 2018
  • Wearing a Marshmallow Man-like suit, he is instructed to antagonize a pooch, turn and run for his life.
    Jack Smart, Peoplemag, 20 June 2024
  • Fans spar for most of the year but really antagonize one another this week.
    Scott Dochterman, ajc, 4 Sep. 2017
  • Faragher said the point of Drag Queen Story Hour is not to antagonize anyone or talk about transgender issues.
    David Rosenfeld, The Mercury News, 20 July 2019
  • The staff also discussed the need to help Tillerson leave in a respectful way without antagonizing the White House.
    Elise Labott, CNN, 14 Mar. 2018
  • That has often meant going out of his way not to antagonize Mr. Trump or his staunchest allies in Congress.
    New York Times, 22 Apr. 2022
  • Unlike many in the GOP, Aistrop doesn’t wholly subscribe to the notion of the mainstream news media being out to antagonize the president.
    Elaina Plott, BostonGlobe.com, 14 Mar. 2020
  • Advantage Clemson there because Renfrow is back to antagonize the Tide for a third straight year.
    Kevin Scarbinsky, AL.com, 28 Dec. 2017
  • Perhaps this was the wrong strategy, to antagonize the devil.
    Karen Russell, The New Yorker, 4 June 2017
  • Miller and Lee famously antagonized each other during the 1990s, when the Pacers and Knicks were fierce rivals.
    Scott Horner, Indianapolis Star, 3 Mar. 2020
  • The years-long ordeal saw Megan being constantly antagonized by the public and industry figures, alike.
    Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 14 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'antagonize.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: