instigate
verb
Did you know?
It's time to investigate the true meaning of instigate. Instigate is often used as a synonym of incite (as in "siblings instigating a fight"), but the two words differ slightly in their overall usage. Incite usually stresses an act of stirring something up that one did not necessarily initiate ("the court's decision incited riots"), while instigate implies responsibility for initiating or encouraging someone else's action, and usually suggests dubious or underhanded intent ("he was charged with instigating a conspiracy"). Coming from a form of the Latin verb instigare ("to urge on or provoke"), instigate stepped into English in the 1500s, roughly a century after incite.
Synonyms
Examples of instigate in a Sentence
Tess Owen, The New Yorker, 30 Jan. 2025
What To Know This recall follows an NHTSA investigation into engine failure in 1.4 million Hondas produced between 2016 and 2020, which was instigated on November 8, 2024.
—Jonathan Granoff, Newsweek, 29 Jan. 2025
The executive order can instigate the name change, but compliance is another issue.
—Mark Thiessen, Los Angeles Times, 26 Jan. 2025
He's pushed the baseless theory that the Jan. 6, 2021, attack was instigated by the FBI and flirted with QAnon, signing some copies of his children's books with one of the movement's slogans, NPR reported.
—Avery Lotz, Axios, 12 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for instigate 
Dictionary Entries Near instigate
Cite this Entry
“Instigate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/instigate. Accessed 10 Feb. 2025.
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