antagonize

After consulting with his advisers, the Saudi crown prince told Trump that the effort was going to antagonize Iran and that it should be reconsidered, according to people familiar with the conversations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026

As was the lesson of “Saltburn,” never antagonize a minion.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026

So that’s where Stroup and Bourne were in December 1977: entrenched in their positions, confident in their success, and unafraid to antagonize their opponents.

From Slate ● Dec. 23, 2025

“When we are fighting for our survival, we can’t afford to antagonize either Biden or Trump,” Mr. Merezhko said.

From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2024

“There’s no need to antagonize her,” Robert says softly.

From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth

However, naltrexone, in both short- and long-acting forms, has the opposite pharmacology: it antagonizes mu receptors, occupying them without activating them.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 13, 2023

The border with Pakistan is sometimes closed and sometimes open, a fitful pattern that antagonizes the Afghan pomegranate farmers and buyers to no end as they try to time their harvests, sales and exports.

From New York Times ● Nov. 21, 2021

It doesn’t stop the smoldering resentment that I feel deep down when she antagonizes me.

From Slate ● Aug. 30, 2019

Stoner’s implacable stand antagonizes Walker’s brilliant and charismatic thesis adviser, Hollis Lomax, whose “body is grotesquely misshapen” by a hump on his back.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 2, 2015

Nothing worries and antagonizes a female bear more than to have people between her and her brood.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

Some also contend the deal has unnecessarily antagonized China, Australia’s main trading partner.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2025

In a June 19, 1970 columna, he antagonized the left by describing the pachucos of a previous generation as “anarchistic.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2025

John Coffee, a law professor at Columbia Law School, said Costello "greatly antagonized" Merchan.

From Salon ● May 21, 2024

Yet this month, it antagonized someone much more powerful, and is already retreating just a touch.

From Slate ● May 21, 2024

“They also debased their currency, undercut the universality of the iron law, and antagonized the Adem.”

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

He did so to avoid antagonizing parts of the political and religious establishment that categorically reject hereditary or dynastic succession.

From Salon ● Mar. 6, 2026

And, two, how did the Ottawa captain feel about the White House posting an A.I.-generated video on its TikTok account that purported to show Tkachuk antagonizing the country where he works?

From Slate ● Feb. 27, 2026

She needs to maintain her popular tough stance on China without overly antagonizing Japan’s No. 2 customer for exports.

From Barron's ● Feb. 10, 2026

Zohran Mamdani, who just swept to victory in the New York City mayoral race, already faces his next big challenge: making the right hires without alienating loyalists or further antagonizing skeptics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2025

I am grateful when he pulls me toward a low table with pillows strewn haphazardly around it, but I can’t help giving Nicasia a small, antagonizing wave as I go.

From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black