provocation

English

Etymology

From Middle English provocacioun, from Old French provocacion, from Late Latin prōvocātiō, prōvocātiōnem, from Latin prōvocō. By surface analysis, provoke +‎ -ation. Doublet of provokatsiya.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌpɹɑvəˈkeɪʃən/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpɹɒvəˈkeɪʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən
• Hyphenation: prov‧o‧ca‧tion

Noun

provocation (countable and uncountable, plural provocations)

1. The act of provoking, inciting or annoying someone into doing something.
2. Something that provokes; a provocative act.
   • 2007 February 28, Daniel J. Wakin, “City Opera Lures Director From Paris”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 25 January 2021:

     The Salzburg Festival stunned the musical world by hiring him to succeed the hallowed Herbert von Karajan, and Mr. Mortier spent the 1990s there scandalizing many of its tradition-minded, well-heeled opera patrons, the most notorious provocation being a production of Johann Strauss’s “Fledermaus” laced with cocaine and fornication and aimed at Austria’s far-right political forces.

3. (emergency medicine) The second step in OPQRST regarding the investigation of what makes the symptoms MOI or NOI improve or deteriorate.

   When it's time to check for provocation, ask the patient about what makes their chief complaint better or worse.

Usage notes

Usually followed by of, to, or for: provocation of violence (less common:to, rare:for), provocation to war (less common: of, for).

Derived terms

• bronchoprovocation
• nonprovocation
• overprovocation
• preprovocation
• provocationism
• provocationist

Related terms

• provocateur
• provocator
• provoke

Translations

act of provoking

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: إِثَارَة (ar) f (ʔiṯāra), اِسْتِفْزَاز m (istifzāz)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: provokasiya, təxribat (az)
• Belarusian: правака́цыя f (pravakácyja)
• Bulgarian: провока́ция (bg) f (provokácija)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 挑釁 / 挑衅 (zh) (tiǎoxìn)

• Czech: provokace (cs) f
• Dutch: provocatie (nl) f
• Esperanto: provoko
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: provokaatio (fi)
• French: provocation (fr) f
• Galician: provocación (gl) f
• Georgian: პროვოკაცია (ṗrovoḳacia)
• German: Provokation (de) f
• Greek: προβοκάτσια (el) f (provokátsia)
• Hungarian: provokáció (hu)
• Indonesian: provokasi (id)
• Irish: gríosú m, saighdeadh m
• Italian: provocazione (it) f
• Japanese: 挑発 (ja) (ちょうはつ, chōhatsu)
• Korean: 도발(挑發) (ko) (dobal)
• Latvian: provokācija f, provocēšana f
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: провокација f (provokacija)
• Malay: provokasi (ms)
• Persian: پرووکاسیون (provokâsion)
• Polish: prowokacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: provocação (pt) f
• Romanian: provocare (ro) f
• Russian: провока́ция (ru) f (provokácija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: провока́ција f

  Latin: provokácija (sh) f

• Slovak: provokácia f
• Slovene: provokacija f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: prowokacija f

• Spanish: provocación (es) f
• Swedish: provokation (sv) c
• Turkish: kışkırtma (tr), provokasyon (tr)
• Ukrainian: провока́ція (uk) f (provokácija)
• Urdu: اَشْتِعال (išt'āl), اَشْتِعال اَنگیزی (išt'āl gēzī)
• Welsh: cythrudd m, pryfociad m
• Yiddish: פראוועקאציע (provokatsye)

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin provocātiōnem, from Latin provocō.

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

provocation f (plural provocations)

1. provocation

Related terms

• provocateur
• provoquer

Descendants

• → Polish: prowokacja
• → Turkish: provokasyon

Further reading

• “provocation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012