| provoking | | |
| adj. | 1. agitating, agitative, provoking | causing or tending to cause anger or resentment.; "a provoking delay at the airport" |
| ~ provocative | serving or tending to provoke, excite, or stimulate; stimulating discussion or exciting controversy.; "a provocative remark"; "a provocative smile"; "provocative Irish tunes which...compel the hearers to dance" |
| dare | | |
| n. (communication) | 1. dare, daring | a challenge to do something dangerous or foolhardy.; "he could never refuse a dare" |
| ~ challenge | a call to engage in a contest or fight. |
| v. (social) | 2. dare, make bold, presume | take upon oneself; act presumptuously, without permission.; "How dare you call my lawyer?" |
| ~ act, move | perform an action, or work out or perform (an action).; "think before you act"; "We must move quickly"; "The governor should act on the new energy bill"; "The nanny acted quickly by grabbing the toddler and covering him with a wet towel" |
| v. (social) | 3. dare | to be courageous enough to try or do something.; "I don't dare call him"; "she dares to dress differently from the others" |
| ~ act, move | perform an action, or work out or perform (an action).; "think before you act"; "We must move quickly"; "The governor should act on the new energy bill"; "The nanny acted quickly by grabbing the toddler and covering him with a wet towel" |
| v. (communication) | 4. dare, defy | challenge.; "I dare you!" |
| ~ brazen | face with defiance or impudence.; "brazen it out" |
| ~ challenge | issue a challenge to.; "Fischer challenged Spassky to a match" |
| defy | | |
| v. (stative) | 1. defy, hold, hold up, withstand | resist or confront with resistance.; "The politician defied public opinion"; "The new material withstands even the greatest wear and tear"; "The bridge held" |
| ~ stand firm, hold out, resist, withstand | stand up or offer resistance to somebody or something. |
| ~ brave, brave out, weather, endure | face and withstand with courage.; "She braved the elements" |
| v. (stative) | 2. defy, refuse, resist | elude, especially in a baffling way.; "This behavior defies explanation" |
| ~ beggar | be beyond the resources of.; "This beggars description!" |
| ~ elude, escape | be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by.; "What you are seeing in him eludes me" |
| heckle | | |
| n. (artifact) | 1. hatchel, heckle | a comb for separating flax fibers. |
| ~ comb | any of several tools for straightening fibers. |
| v. (contact) | 2. hackle, hatchel, heckle | comb with a heckle.; "heckle hemp or flax" |
| ~ comb | straighten with a comb.; "comb your hair" |
| v. (communication) | 3. heckle | challenge aggressively. |
| ~ cut off, disrupt, interrupt, break up | make a break in.; "We interrupt the program for the following messages" |
| provoke | | |
| v. (emotion) | 1. arouse, elicit, enkindle, evoke, fire, kindle, provoke, raise | call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses).; "arouse pity"; "raise a smile"; "evoke sympathy" |
| ~ create, make | make or cause to be or to become.; "make a mess in one's office"; "create a furor" |
| ~ touch a chord, strike a chord | evoke a reaction, response, or emotion.; "this writer strikes a chord with young women"; "The storyteller touched a chord" |
| ~ ask for, invite | increase the likelihood of.; "ask for trouble"; "invite criticism" |
| ~ draw | elicit responses, such as objections, criticism, applause, etc..; "The President's comments drew sharp criticism from the Republicans"; "The comedian drew a lot of laughter" |
| ~ rekindle | arouse again.; "rekindle hopes"; "rekindle her love" |
| ~ infatuate | arouse unreasoning love or passion in and cause to behave in an irrational way.; "His new car has infatuated him"; "love has infatuated her" |
| ~ prick | to cause a sharp emotional pain.; "The thought of her unhappiness pricked his conscience" |
| ~ fire up, stir up, heat, ignite, wake, inflame | arouse or excite feelings and passions.; "The ostentatious way of living of the rich ignites the hatred of the poor"; "The refugees' fate stirred up compassion around the world"; "Wake old feelings of hatred" |
| ~ stimulate, shake up, stir, excite, shake | stir the feelings, emotions, or peace of.; "These stories shook the community"; "the civil war shook the country" |
| ~ excite | arouse or elicit a feeling. |
| ~ anger | make angry.; "The news angered him" |
| ~ discomfit, discompose, untune, disconcert, upset | cause to lose one's composure. |
| ~ shame | cause to be ashamed. |
| ~ spite, bruise, injure, wound, offend, hurt | hurt the feelings of.; "She hurt me when she did not include me among her guests"; "This remark really bruised my ego" |
| ~ overwhelm, sweep over, whelm, overpower, overcome, overtake | overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli. |
| ~ interest | excite the curiosity of; engage the interest of. |
| v. (creation) | 2. call forth, evoke, kick up, provoke | evoke or provoke to appear or occur.; "Her behavior provoked a quarrel between the couple" |
| ~ bring up, call down, conjure, conjure up, invoke, call forth, arouse, put forward, evoke, stir, raise | summon into action or bring into existence, often as if by magic.; "raise the specter of unemployment"; "he conjured wild birds in the air"; "call down the spirits from the mountain" |
| ~ cause, do, make | give rise to; cause to happen or occur, not always intentionally.; "cause a commotion"; "make a stir"; "cause an accident" |
| ~ pick | provoke.; "pick a fight or a quarrel" |
| v. (communication) | 3. provoke, stimulate | provide the needed stimulus for. |
| ~ entice, lure, tempt | provoke someone to do something through (often false or exaggerated) promises or persuasion.; "He lured me into temptation" |
| ~ rejuvenate | cause (a stream or river) to erode, as by an uplift of the land. |
| ~ jog | stimulate to remember.; "jog my memory" |
| ~ instigate, incite, stir up, set off | provoke or stir up.; "incite a riot"; "set off great unrest among the people" |
| ~ challenge | issue a challenge to.; "Fischer challenged Spassky to a match" |
| ~ agitate, foment, stir up | try to stir up public opinion. |
| v. (emotion) | 4. beset, chevvy, chevy, chivvy, chivy, harass, harry, hassle, molest, plague, provoke | annoy continually or chronically.; "He is known to harry his staff when he is overworked"; "This man harasses his female co-workers" |
| ~ needle, goad | goad or provoke,as by constant criticism.; "He needled her with his sarcastic remarks" |
| ~ annoy, devil, gravel, irritate, nark, rile, vex, bother, nettle, rag, chafe, get at, get to | cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations.; "Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really bothers me"; "It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves" |
| ~ bedevil, dun, rag, crucify, frustrate, torment | treat cruelly.; "The children tormented the stuttering teacher" |
| ~ haze | harass by imposing humiliating or painful tasks, as in military institutions. |
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