Provoke

How to spell provoke

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce provoke

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does provoke mean?

1. verbTo deliberately stir up a strong reaction, feeling, or response in someone.

Provoke in a sentence

• The manager tried not to provoke an argument during the review.

• A careless comment can provoke real anger in a tense meeting.

Where does provoke come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin provocare, which literally meant 'to call forth' or 'to challenge', built from pro- meaning 'forth' and vocare meaning 'to call'. In Roman usage it carried the sense of summoning someone out, stirring them up, or even appealing to a higher authority, and that idea of rousing a reaction has stayed at the heart of the word ever since. English took it through Old French provoquer in the late 1300s, at first in the sense of inciting or calling forth a feeling or action. The same vocare root that means 'to call' also gives us vocal, vocation, advocate, and invoke, all of which share that core idea of the voice or a calling. Remembering the 'vok' as the 'voice' that calls forth a response can help anchor the spelling, since the trickier part for many writers is the unstressed first syllable that sounds like 'pruh'.

How the word is built

• pro- (forth)
• vok (call, from Latin vocare)
• silent -e