agent provocateur
/ˌɑʒɑnt pɹəˌvɔkəˈtɝ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.48 in modern English
24
Scrabble Score
16
Letters
4
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person who secretly disrupts a group's activities from within the group, particularly by encouraging or committing illegal acts to discredit the group or expose them to prosecution; an instigator, troublemaker.
Example Sentences
- ""This agent-provocateur business is quite foreign to British justice.""
- "I was told afterwards—quite possibly it was true—that agents provocateurs were touching off masses of explosive in order to increase the general noise and panic."
- "Suspecting that the man was an agent provocateur sent by the Prince, Pottinger told him that regrettably he had neither the knowledge nor the authority to instruct him in this or any other religion."
- "The criminalisation of protest has been aided by the director of public prosecution's recent guidelines on prosecuting protesters, which fail to account for the role of the police in prompting violence at demonstrations through tactics such as kettling, the use of batons, agents provocateurs and undercover policing."
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌɑʒɑnt pɹəˌvɔkəˈtɝ/
- British English: /ˌæʒɒ̃ pɹəˌvɒkəˈtɜː/