provocative
/pɹəˈvɑ.kə.tɪv/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.44 in modern English
21
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Serving or tending to elicit a strong, often negative sentiment in another person; exasperating.
adj
noun
Something that provokes an appetite, especially a sexual appetite; an aphrodisiac.
Example Sentences
- "[I]t is a terrible long and slippery descent, and a shocking bad road. At the bottom, however, there is a pleasant public; whereat we must really take a modest quencher, for the down air is provocative of thirst."
- "And the ‘wailing noise,’ which had induced the prosaic, indurated London cabman to get twice off his box to see what was the matter, what anguish had been provocative of that?"
- "She used by way of Provocative, to read the wanton Verses of her Paramour in the day time [...]."
- "[A]nd that one great and all-important occasion and provocative of these beliefs was actually the rise of self-consciousness — that is, the coming of the mind to a more or less distinct awareness of itself and of its own operation, and the consequent development and growth of Individualism, and of the Self-centred attitude in human thought and action."
- "In Turkey, Iran, and Syria salep is popular as a restorative and also as a provocative to amatory activity."
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French provocatif, and its source, Late Latin provocativus, from Latin provocare.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *wekʷ-, provocatif, provocativus, provocare
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /pɹəˈvɑ.kə.tɪv/
- British English: /pɹəˈvɒk.ə.tɪv/