provocation

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A disclaimer in Jeffrey Epstein’s email signature was a provocation as much as a warning: The contents of this message “may constitute inside information.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026

Others speculated that, due to Fennell’s penchant for audience provocation, the quotation marks were an Easter egg indicating that her take on Brontë’s novel would be far from your great-great-grandmother’s “Wuthering Heights.”

From Salon • Feb. 14, 2026

Even having made two single-season streaming series in the interim, he has seemingly been missing in action, the absence of his visual flair, bent humor and taste for provocation leaving an empty space in theaters.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 1, 2026

At the end of March, US Vice President JD Vance made an uninvited visit to Greenland that was widely seen as a provocation both on the island and in Copenhagen.

From Barron's • Dec. 22, 2025

The man, in an almost deliberate provocation, reached out and touched the fence.

From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers