as in rebel
a person who stirs up public feelings especially of discontent
a calculating provocateur, she has made a career out of controversy for its own sake
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Recent Examples of provocateur
Wilde’s character, who is a boundary-pushing artist and provocateur, pairs the intimates with a matching swipe of red lipstick, black liquid eyeliner, and a black leather belt and skirt.
—
Lara Walsh,
InStyle,
10 June 2026
The Human Is Staying In The Picture (Mostly) Screenwriter and director Paul Schrader, at nearly 80 years old an unlikely technology provocateur, delivered a talk at AI on the Lot peppered with pot-stirring takes.
—
Dade Hayes,
Deadline,
31 May 2026
If, for David Lynch, ideas are like fish in a river, then for Danish provocateur Nicolas Winding Refn, those ideas are like chunks of excrement in an exploded sewage pipe.
—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
19 May 2026
But the Fosters hosting a fundraiser for the reality-TV provocateur turned mayoral candidate suggests that stigma may be starting to erode.
—
Maxwell Adler,
Vanity Fair,
13 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for provocateur
Lara Walsh,
InStyle,
10 June 2026
The Human Is Staying In The Picture (Mostly) Screenwriter and director Paul Schrader, at nearly 80 years old an unlikely technology provocateur, delivered a talk at AI on the Lot peppered with pot-stirring takes.
—
Dade Hayes,
Deadline,
31 May 2026
If, for David Lynch, ideas are like fish in a river, then for Danish provocateur Nicolas Winding Refn, those ideas are like chunks of excrement in an exploded sewage pipe.
—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
19 May 2026
But the Fosters hosting a fundraiser for the reality-TV provocateur turned mayoral candidate suggests that stigma may be starting to erode.
—
Maxwell Adler,
Vanity Fair,
13 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for provocateur
Recent Examples of Synonyms for provocateur
Noun
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Gillespie also has a reputation for melding music to movies, as seen in Cruella, his 2021 movie that cast Disney villainess Cruella de Vil as a punk rock rebel in London’s fashion scene.
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The winner is the daughter of the late Alberto Fujimori, the former president whose government in the 1990s defeated the Shining Path extremist rebel group but also took an authoritarian turn.
Noun
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Elsie Peacock Hand has been a mayor, bank vice president, country music promoter, and longtime political aide and booster, Patricia Murphy writes.
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Other guests in attendance include AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron, Steven Spielberg, Bob Iger, Dana Walden, Universal Music Group chairman Lucian Grainge, Republic Records founders Monte and Avery Lipman and Swift’s longtime tour promoter Louie Messina.
Noun
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Videos showed police beating back agitators with batons and deploying anti-riot ordnance as the demonstrators chanted against the country's conservative Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in a massive political rally.
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White attributed most of the hateful comments to online agitators rather than true WNBA or Indiana Fever fans.
Noun
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Stream-access proponents took a similar approach in 2010, after a landowner on the Taylor River strung cables from bank to bank to keep a rafting company from floating down.
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There isn't time for proponents to get a new measure on this year's ballot and state law requires any measures brought in odd years be limited to questions related to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR).
Noun
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The Bongino Report, the website of the right-wing firebrand who would eventually serve a brief term as deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, claimed that Check My Ads was violating tax rules.
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Now, the right-wing firebrand has managed to win the backing of at least four billionaires as of May 6, according to the latest available election data—including the CEO and cofounder of Kalshi.
Noun
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To his supporters, Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was the steadfast, fearless leader who transcended mere politics and inspired devotion.
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Hundreds of supporters gathered to cheer her arrival after nearly a month and a half at sea.
Noun
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The Constitution was crafted out of fear — fear of concentrated power, factional dominance, corruption, demagogues, unchecked executives, and the use of public office for personal gain.
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But those standards can be easily stretched by demagogues, and a simple majority on the committee is enough to ban a party, though a panel of nine Supreme Court justices can overturn the decision on appeal.
Noun
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In late May, a video spread across Albanian social media of private security guards dragging a protester across the beach at the wetlands.
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An anti-Israel protester who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of a pro-Israel demonstrator in California was sentenced to one year in county jail this week.
Cite this Entry
“Provocateur.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/provocateur. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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