Inciting

How to spell inciting

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce inciting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does inciting mean?

1. verbStirring up or urging someone toward strong feeling or action, often violence, disorder, or wrongdoing.
2. adjectiveIn screenwriting and fiction, describing the event that sets the main plot in motion.

Inciting in a sentence

• verb

  The activist was arrested for inciting a riot outside the courthouse.

• adjective

  The screenwriting tutor explained that the inciting incident usually arrives within the first ten pages.

• verb

  Posting messages inciting hatred against any group is a criminal offence.

• adjective

  In this novel the inciting moment is the discovery of the hidden letter.

Where does inciting come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is the present participle of 'incite', which English took from the Old French 'enciter' in the 1400s, itself drawn from the Latin verb 'incitare'. That Latin verb combined the prefix 'in-', meaning 'toward' or 'into', with 'citare', a frequentative form of 'ciere', meaning 'to set in motion, to rouse or stir up'. So the literal picture is one of repeatedly stirring something into motion, which fits the modern sense of urging people toward action, often an unwelcome one. The same 'citare' root sits behind a cluster of familiar relatives such as 'cite', 'excite', 'recite', and 'solicit', and recognising that shared 'cit' core is the easiest way to keep the single 't' before the '-ing'.

How the word is built

• in- (toward, into)
• cite (from Latin citare: to set in motion, rouse)
• -ing (present participle)