How to Use provocation in a Sentence

provocation

noun

• With hardly any provocation, the crowd began to chant.
• He can turn violent at the least provocation.
• Her calmness in the face of repeated provocations impressed her friends.
• To do so, for artists like Braque and Höch, was a means of provocation.
  — Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 16 Aug. 2024
• That great unknown alone makes the provocation worth the hype.
  — Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 7 Sep. 2023
• And provocation includes things that make the pain worse.
  — Jenny Sweigard, Verywell Health, 5 Mar. 2024
• This show can feel like a provocation, a dare to hate Carmichael, then love him and back again.
  — Jason Zinoman, New York Times, 13 May 2024
• And so this is a new level of provocation from the Chinese.
  — Samuel Chamberlain, Fox News, 16 Jan. 2021
• The young man was dark-complexioned and thin and seemed steady, and ready to take on any provocation.
  — Alaa Al Aswany, Harper's Magazine, 22 June 2021
• The sky-blue limousine parked outside the door was a provocation.
  — Michael Hofmann, Harper's Magazine, 27 Oct. 2020
• There was provocation on the part of both Bradley and Allissa.
  — Emily Palmer, Peoplemag, 13 Sep. 2023
• Cool things down; be aware that tempers could flare up at the least provocation.
  — Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, 9 Oct. 2020
• The label name is a clear provocation to those who see jazz as extinct.
  — Sheldon Pearce, The New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2021
• That doesn’t mean Ishiba will be weak in the face of Chinese provocations.
  — Arata Yamamoto, NBC News, 27 Sep. 2024
• The 51st state That said, the provocation about merging Canada into the union lingers.
  — Talib Visram, TIME, 7 Feb. 2025
• The protection squad will no doubt be seen as a provocation by Arabs in town.
  — Amy Kellogg, Fox News, 14 May 2021
• There has to be at least a minimum of provocation in art.
  — New York Times, 3 Feb. 2022
• The editor pulled his nose and slapped him - a provocation for a duel, but the younger Adams did not fight back.
  — BostonGlobe.com, 3 Apr. 2021
• Hip-hop artist Mic Crenshaw told the crowd the far-right’s attempts at provocation would not work.
  — oregonlive, 27 Sep. 2020
• In the worldview of this movie, there’s no room for it: There is no such thing as love conquered by provocation.
  — K. Austin Collins, Rolling Stone, 6 Apr. 2022
• But the gunman walked behind the counter and shot him in the chest without provocation, police said.
  — Michelle Hunter, NOLA.com, 10 Dec. 2020
• The gunman walked up on the deputies and opened fire without warning or provocation.
  — CBS News, 14 Sep. 2020
• All of that and more is a strong and effective response to the provocations from North Korea.
  — Kevin Lynn, Newsweek, 7 Jan. 2025
• And so the provocations and groans continue, for two hours and 40 minutes that could have been half or twice as long.
  — Jesse Green, New York Times, 27 Feb. 2024
• Some of Tibi’s florals and swirls drew the eye downward, a quiet provocation.
  — Miami Staff, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2024
• But there is more than prurience or even provocation at work here.
  — Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 1 Sep. 2023
• All of this deserves headlines, which, by their nature, err on the side of provocation.
  — Kent Sepkowitz, CNN, 2 Aug. 2021
• Then horror struck, when a man pulled a gun on them without provocation and shots rang out.
  — Marlene Lenthang, NBC News, 30 Nov. 2023
• Leftists can only dream of actually changing the world on the same scale with their comparatively lame and contrived performance art provocations.
  — Rachel Marsden, Hartford Courant, 19 Jan. 2025
• Ahead of Sunday’s national parliamentary election, a new band of influencers has found a voice among voters by bringing a more youthful edge to the party known for its provocations and controversies.
  — Sergey Ponomarev, New York Times, 22 Feb. 2025

Last Updated: 23 Mar 2025