provoke

"It is defended precisely when those opinions disturb or provoke disagreement, provided that they form part of democratic debate, as is the case across all of our media outlets."

From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026

Refn: How to provoke the soul is through stillness and silence.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

Across the street, Seattle host committee officials insisted that the timing of the Pride Match was not designed to provoke.

From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026

Harvard recently announced a cap on A’s in any given class, but it doesn’t address lower grades, including A-minuses, and such measures tend to provoke faculty resistance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026

“I mean don’t provoke them. Don’t respond to anything, don’t do anything. Just...act like they’re talking about somebody else. Don’t be getting all on Tweeter or whatever, making comments.”

From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas

Truly creative and inspiring art undermines that goal, because it provokes responses like empathy and critical thinking in audiences — which gets in the way of authoritarian domination.

From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026

"There is something for some people which is very threatening about this work, which provokes a certain reaction," Father Andrew says.

From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026

Ms. Enyedi implicitly provokes such consideration through shots that often put flora in the foreground, with humans reduced to background extras.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026

The romantic element of Sondheim’s score is best captured in the gorgeous singing of Chris Hunter’s Anthony Hope, whose crooning of “Johanna” provokes an epidemic of goosebumps throughout La Mirada Theatre.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2026

“Take charge of him. You speak his tongue. See that he is fed and find him a warm place by the fire. Stay with him. See that no one provokes him.”

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

"What the defendant did offended the Balinese people, hurt their faith and provoked public outrage," the presiding judge said, according to the Associated Press.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

“It provoked great discussions about death, afterlife, religion in general and great character studies.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

Britain grew faster than the U.S. in the second quarter, despite the heightened uncertainty provoked by the war in the Middle East.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

In fact, the entire stock market could be best described as a casino that incentivizes absurd growth like the historic tech bubble provoked by the spread of artificial intelligence.

From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026

The incident provoked her into doing what she had never done before—abandon her duties.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

Keitel’s Feraud keeps provoking the feud; Carradine’s D’Hubert recognizes its madness but remains too bound by the same code of honor to walk away.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

Known as an “urchin” bait, the lure is dominating professional competitions, sparking a rush of imitators and provoking the sort of shelf-clearing buying frenzies you see for Pokemons and Beanie Babies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

It said such devices contributed to higher atmospheric pollution of nitrogen oxides that are suspected of "provoking the development of respiratory diseases in humans".

From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026

The decisive question is how long Iran's leaders can preserve Hormuz as leverage without provoking an all-out war, renewed unrest or the construction of alternative routes that make the strait matter less.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

Romeo and Juliet’s agonising predicament acts like wallpaper to nineteenth-century music: almost wherever you look it is lurking in the background, provoking decade-by-decade settings of many shapes, sizes and formats.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall