provoke
part of speech
verb (provoke, provokes, provoked, provoking)
meaning for a pupil
1) To provoke someone is to annoy them on purpose to make them angry or react. tree →
2) To provoke a reaction or feeling is to cause it: «The film provoked laughter». tree →
3) To provoke an animal is to tease or bother it so it may attack. tree →
sense in the lessons
In safety: never provoke a dog, snake, bee or wild animal. In playground life: someone may try to provoke you; walk away and tell an adult. In formal writing it means cause: «provoke a debate». Phrases: «provoke a reaction», «easily provoked».
examples
- Don't provoke the dog — it might bite. tree →
- He tried to provoke me by calling me names. tree →
- The joke provoked a lot of laughter. tree →
- The new rule provoked complaints. tree →
- Never provoke a snake. tree →
- Her question provoked a long discussion. tree →
- My sister loves to provoke me. tree →
- The speech provoked anger in the crowd. tree →
- It is wiser to bear a single injury in silence than to provoke a thousand by flying into a rage. tree →
note
Regular verb. Drop -e before -ing: provoking. Noun: provocation (c, not k). «Provoke» is a little formal; everyday speech: wind up (UK), stir up, annoy.
In the corpora
- They roused Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations did they provoke Him.
- And the LORD saw, and spurned, because of the provoking of His sons and His daughters.
- A people that provoke Me to My face continually, that sacrifice in gardens, and burn incense upon bricks;
- Do they provoke Me? saith the LORD; do they not provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?
- Ephraim hath provoked most bitterly; therefore shall his blood be cast upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «provoke» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.