How to Use instigate in a Sentence

instigate

verb

• There has been an increase in the amount of violence instigated by gangs.
• The government has instigated an investigation into the cause of the accident.
• At the same time stress can instigate bad behaviors such as smoking and drinking.
  — Tom Siegfried, Discover Magazine, 18 Sep. 2018
• Iran, in turn, has accused the U.S. of instigating protesters to burn its consulate.
  — Ali Nabhan, WSJ, 2 Oct. 2018
• Climate change lawsuits aren’t all trying to instigate climate action—some are trying to prevent regulation.
  — Cathleen O'Grady, Ars Technica, 26 Aug. 2018
• And while Sheldon instigated all of this, Siebert should have done his due diligence before signing off on such a major development.
  — Jessica Radloff, Glamour, 18 Oct. 2018
• Kirk claimed self-defense, but the dead man’s family disputes that, claiming the musician instigated the physical dispute that led up to the shooting.
  — Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 3 Sep. 2024
• But his mother’s spirit returns, inhabiting both of their bodies to speak to the other one and instigating a threatening three-way nocturnal dance.
  — Patrick Frater, Variety, 4 Sep. 2024
• There's only one problem: Raj never bothers to ask about Anu's ex-boyfriend, the guy who instigated this whole misunderstanding in the first place.
  — Jessica Radloff, Glamour, 10 Jan. 2019
• Further, if Ukraine instigated the event as Russia claims, then why did Russia send low-flying attack jets and helicopters into the area?
  — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 26 Nov. 2018
• In the midst of it all, one new brand is here to instigate change from its founding.
  — Brooke Bobb, Vogue, 9 July 2020
• The boy did not instigate the fight, his mother says, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
  — Kc Baker, PEOPLE.com, 3 Oct. 2019
• After all, those customers may perhaps be the party that can instigate the most change in the end.
  — Yael Grauer, Ars Technica, 9 Feb. 2020
• The LaBianca killings were part of Manson’s plan to instigate a race war.
  — Christine Pelisek, PEOPLE.com, 26 July 2019
• Buck hoped to instigate an uprising to force white settlers off the land and return it to the Creeks and Cherokees.
  — Los Angeles Times, 4 Nov. 2021
• And the way to defeat fringe elements who instigate and launch primaries is to fight them.
  — Charlie Dent, CNN, 1 May 2022
• The Ravens contend that Beckham instigated the fight, and that Humphrey didn’t place his hands on Beckham’s throat.
  — Mary Kay Cabot, cleveland, 1 Oct. 2019
• This premise instigates the action in No Hard Feelings.
  — Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 June 2023
• The data also tracks when these changes happened and who may have helped instigate them.
  — Kathy Stephenson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 29 Sep. 2020
• Riyadh and Abu Dhabi even threatened to instigate a coup, forcing Qatar to build a new alliance with Turkey.
  — Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Jan. 2021
• The victim, 31-year-old Bradley Arabie, instigated the fight, court records say, but was dwarfed by Sendejo’s size.
  — Rob Kuznia, CNN, 21 Mar. 2023
• Penn State police last week asked people to avoid the event, saying the speakers would attempt to instigate protests.
  — Alyssa Lukpat, WSJ, 25 Oct. 2022
• The challenge is to instigate a party but make sure that people are invited to the party.
  — Vulture, 26 Apr. 2022
• But Brooks — who instigated things with James last spring in the playoffs as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies — wasn’t going to back down.
  — Austin Knoblauch, Los Angeles Times, 20 Nov. 2023
• Immediately after the terry tribute, a male fan instigates a tug-of-war for the rag, pulling the woman to the ground.
  — Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 15 Aug. 2023
• Some of these bans have been instigated by a single parental complaint.
  — Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani, The New Republic, 21 Sep. 2023
• Often, the interns instigate the best conversations, and the most laughs.
  — Thomas Koetting, Journal Sentinel, 19 June 2024
• The project was instigated by the Mughal emperor Akbar, who had brought two Persian artists to his court in India.
  — Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 23 Feb. 2024
• So Biden’s federal government has to instigate, to work the gaps.
  — Adam Rogers, Wired, 20 Jan. 2021
• The instigating incident for the plot of the show comes when Angela is called to witness his dead body, hanging from a tree, at the base of which sits a 105-year-old black man in a wheelchair.
  — Namwali Serpell, The New York Review of Books, 24 Mar. 2020

Last Updated: 28 Oct 2024