PROVOCATIVE in a Sentence

Learn PROVOCATIVE from example sentences, some of them are from classic books. These examples are selected from a corpus with 300,000 sentences, including classic works and current mainstream media. Some sentences also link to their contexts.

For PROVOCATIVE, below is one of 33 sentences:
The world looks on with wonder that we have conceded so much and remain law-abiding under such great outrage and provocation.

Free Online Vocabulary Test
K12, SAT, GRE, IELTS, TOEFL
 Input your word:
Want to search a word in classic works?
Search Classic Quotes
 Meanings and Examples of PROVOCATIVE
Definition Example Sentence Classic Sentence
provocative
 a.  arousing anger or interest; tending to provoke or stimulate
Classic Sentence: (20 in 2 pages)
1  The next day Danglars was again hungry; certainly the air of that dungeon was very provocative of appetite.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre Dumas
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 116. The Pardon.
2  It was so nice to know that she looked pretty and provocative, and she impulsively bent forward and kissed her reflection in the mirror and then laughed at her own foolishness.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXXIV
3  Indeed, this conjunction of exciting and provocative motives led to Chichikov devoting to his toilet an amount of time never witnessed since the creation of the world.
Dead Souls By Nikolai Gogol
Context  Highlight   In PART 1: CHAPTER VIII
4  We were sitting at a table with a man of about my age and a rowdy little girl who gave way upon the slightest provocation to uncontrollable laughter.
The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 3
5  Elinor kept her concern and her censure to herself; and was very thankful that Marianne was not present, to share the provocation.
Sense and Sensibility By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 33
6  John Dashwood was greatly astonished; but his nature was calm, not open to provocation, and he never wished to offend anybody, especially anybody of good fortune.
Sense and Sensibility By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 37
7  Being, by that time, rather tired of this kind of life, and having received new provocation from the butcher, I throw the flower away, go out with the butcher, and gloriously defeat him.
David Copperfield By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 18. A RETROSPECT
8  The slightest provocation, even being asked if there is anything he would prefer for dinner, causes him to express a wish for a separation.
David Copperfield By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 49. I AM INVOLVED IN MYSTERY
9  It's all a question of the degree of provocation.
Arms and the Man By George Bernard Shaw
Context  Highlight   In ACT III
10  I never gave her the slightest provocation.
Pygmalion By George Bernard Shaw
Context  Highlight   In ACT V
11  I was brought up to be just like him, unable to control myself, and using bad language on the slightest provocation.
Pygmalion By George Bernard Shaw
Context  Highlight   In ACT V
12  She snaps his head off on the faintest provocation, or on none.
Pygmalion By George Bernard Shaw
Context  Highlight   In ACT V
13  She had a heart which fluttered at any excitement and she pampered it shamelessly, fainting at any provocation.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER VIII
14  No one, for instance, could have made a more typical Goya than Carry Fisher, with her short dark-skinned face, the exaggerated glow of her eyes, the provocation of her frankly-painted smile.
House of Mirth By Edith Wharton
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 1: Chapter 12
15  The world looks on with wonder that we have conceded so much and remain law-abiding under such great outrage and provocation.
Southern Horrors By Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Context  Highlight   In VII
Example Sentence:
1  This book is designed to be provocative rather than a watertight piece of economic analysis.
2  His provocative words only fuelled the argument further.
3  His behavior was called provocative and antisocial.
4  He doesn't really mean that—he's just being deliberately provocative.
5  The minister's provocative remarks were widely reported in the press.
6  He has made a string of outspoken and sometimes provocative speeches in recent years.
7  Even more provocative is the promise of a Russian nuclear power plant for Venezuela.
8  It was a far cry from the look she cultivated when she first appeared on the fashion scene typically dressed in a punkish, provocative mixture of men's and women's wear. “I had fun with androgyny, I had fun being rock ‘n' roll,” she said.
9  Beyond the verge of provocation I never ventured; on the extreme brink I liked well to try my skill.
10  It urges the immediate cessation of all acts of violence, provocation, incitement and destruction, and calls upon to return to negotiations.
11  The bully was initially truculent but eventually stopped picking fights at the least provocation.
12  The victim's conduct had involved an element of provocation.
13  So far the police have refused to respond to their provocations.