provoking

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
provoking
    adj 1: causing or tending to cause anger or resentment; "a
           provoking delay at the airport" [syn: {agitative},
           {agitating}, {provoking}]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Provoking \Pro*vok"ing\, a.
   Having the power or quality of exciting resentment; tending
   to awaken passion or vexation; as, provoking words or
   treatment. -- {Pro*vok"ing*ly}, adv.
   [1913 Webster]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Provoke \Pro*voke"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Provoked}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Provoking}.] [F. provoquer, L. provocare to call
   forth; pro forth + vocare to call, fr. vox, vocis, voice,
   cry, call. See {Voice}.]
   To call forth; to call into being or action; esp., to incense
   to action, a faculty or passion, as love, hate, or ambition;
   hence, commonly, to incite, as a person, to action by a
   challenge, by taunts, or by defiance; to exasperate; to
   irritate; to offend intolerably; to cause to retaliate.
   [1913 Webster]

         Obey his voice, provoke him not.         --Ex. xxiii.
                                                  21.
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         Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. --Eph.
                                                  vi. 4.
   [1913 Webster]

         Such acts
         Of contumacy will provoke the Highest
         To make death in us live.                --Milton.
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         Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust? --Gray.
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         To the poet the meaning is what he pleases to make it,
         what it provokes in his own soul.        -- J.
                                                  Burroughs.
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   Syn: To irritate; arouse; stir up; awake; excite; incite;
        anger. See {Irritate}.
        [1913 Webster]
    
from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
113 Moby Thesaurus words for "provoking":
      aggravating, agitating, alluring, annoying, ardent, bothering,
      bothersome, breathtaking, burning, challenging, charged,
      cliff-hanging, disquieting, distracting, disturbing, electric,
      emphatic, encouraging, energizing, enthusiastic, exasperating,
      exciting, exhilarating, fervent, fiery, galling, galvanic,
      galvanizing, glowing, harassing, harassment, heady,
      heart-expanding, heart-stirring, heart-swelling, heart-thrilling,
      impassioned, importunate, importune, impressive, inflammatory,
      interesting, intoxicating, inviting, irking, irksome, irritating,
      jarring, jolting, juicy, lively, maddening, mind-blowing, moving,
      overcoming, overmastering, overpowering, overwhelming, passionate,
      perturbing, pesky, pestering, pestiferous, pestilent, pestilential,
      piquant, plaguesome, plaguey, plaguing, prompting, provocation,
      provocative, racy, ravishing, readable, rich, rousing,
      soul-stirring, spicy, spirit-stirring, stimulant, stimulating,
      stimulative, stirring, striking, succulent, suspenseful,
      suspensive, tantalizing, teasing, telling, thought-challenging,
      thought-inspiring, thought-provoking, thrilling, thrilly, tickling,
      tiresome, titillating, tormenting, troublesome, troubling,
      unsettling, upsetting, urgent, vehement, vexation, vexatious,
      vexing, warm, wearisome, worrisome, worrying

    

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