Criminal vs Provocateur - What's the difference?
criminal | provocateur |
Being against the law; forbidden by law.
* Addison
Guilty of breaking the law.
* Rogers
Of or relating to crime or penal law.
* Hallam
(figuratively) Abhorrent or very undesirable, even if allowed by law.
A person who is guilty of a crime, notably breaking the law.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
, title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=3 One who engages in provocative behavior.
* {{quote-news, 2007, February 28, Daniel J. Wakin, City Opera Lures Director From Paris, New York Times
, passage=Gerard Mortier, an iconoclastic impresario and one of the opera world’s premier provocateurs , will become general manager and artistic director of the New York City Opera in 2009.}}
An undercover agent who incites suspected persons to partake in or commit criminal acts.
As nouns the difference between criminal and provocateur
is that criminal is a person who is guilty of a crime, notably breaking the law while provocateur is one who engages in provocative behavior.As a adjective criminal
is being against the law; forbidden by law.criminal
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- Foppish and fantastic ornaments are only indications of vice, not criminal in themselves.
- The neglect of any of the relative duties renders us criminal in the sight of God.
- The officers and servants of the crown, violating the personal liberty, or other right of the subject were in some cases liable to criminal process.
- His long criminal record suggests that he is a dangerous man.
- ''Printing such asinine opinions without rebuttal is criminal , even when not libel!
Usage notes
* Nouns to which "criminal" is often applied: law, justice, court, procedure, prosecution, intent, case, record, act, action, behavior, code, offence, liability, investigation, conduct, defense, trial, history, responsibility, lawyer, tribunal, appeal, process, background, mind, conspiracy, evidence, gang, organization, underworld, jurisprudence, offender, jury, police, past, group, punishment, attorney, violence, report, career, psychology.Synonyms
* illegalDerived terms
* criminal conversation * criminalisation * criminalist * criminalistics * criminality * criminalize * criminal law * criminal-law * criminally * criminal negligence * criminalness * criminal-offence * criminal offence * criminal procedure * criminal recordNoun
(en noun)citation, passage=‘[…] There's every Staffordshire crime-piece ever made in this cabinet, and that's unique. The Van Hoyer Museum in New York hasn't that very rare second version of Maria Marten's Red Barn over there, nor the little Frederick George Manning—he was the criminal Dickens saw hanged on the roof of the gaol in Horsemonger Lane, by the way—’}}
Synonyms
* lawbreaker * offender * perpetrator * See alsoprovocateur
English
(Agent provocateur)Noun
(en noun)citation