provoke

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

v. t. annoy, irritate, exasperate, nettle; excite, arouse; anger, incite, evoke, elicit; goad, vex. See cause, excitement, resentment.

II

(Roget's IV) v.

1. [To vex]

Syn. irritate, put out, aggravate; see bother 2 .

2. [To incite]

Syn. stir, rouse, arouse, excite, stimulate, pique, incite, spur, evoke, prompt, prod, motivate, inspire, instigate, kindle, foment, stir up, whip up, galvanize; see also incite .

3. [To cause]

Syn. make, produce, bring about; see begin 1 .

See Synonym Study at irritate . Syn.- provoke , in this connection, implies rather generally an arousing to some action or feeling [ thought- provoking] ; excite suggests a more powerful or profound stirring or moving of the thoughts or emotions [ it excites my imagination ] ; stimulate implies arousing to increased activity as if by goading or pricking and often connotes bringing out of a state of inactivity or indifference [ to stimulate one's enthusiasm ] ; pique suggests stimuLating as if by irritating mildly [ to pique one's curiosity ]

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) v.

1. stimulate excite, arouse, incite, stir up, instigate, goad, prod, generate, start, bring about, produce, evoke, kindle.

2. anger infuriate, irritate, annoy, enrage, *piss off, offend, insult, *get on one's nerves, perturb, incense.

ANT.: 1. *throw cold water on, inhibit, smooth over. 2. mollify, appease, pacify

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) verb 1. To cause to feel or show anger: anger, burn (up), enrage, incense1, infuriate, madden. Idioms: make one hot under the collar, make one's blood boil, put one's back up. See FEELINGS. 2. To trouble the nerves or peace of mind of, especially by repeated vexations: aggravate, annoy, bother, bug, chafe, disturb, exasperate, fret, gall2, get, irk, irritate, nettle, peeve, put out, rile, ruffle, vex. Idioms: get in one's hair, get on one's nerves, get under one's skin. See FEELINGS, PAIN. 3. To stir to action or feeling: egg on, excite, foment, galvanize, goad, impel, incite, inflame, inspire, instigate, motivate, move, pique, prick, prod, prompt, propel, set off, spur, stimulate, touch off, trigger, work up. See CAUSE, EXCITE. 4. To behave so as to bring on (danger, for example): court, invite, tempt. See SEEK.