Provoke vs Hostile - What's the difference?
provoke | hostile |
to cause someone to become annoyed or angry.
* Bible, Eph. vi. 4
to bring about a reaction.
* J. Burroughs
*{{quote-news
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(obsolete) To appeal.
Belonging or appropriate to an enemy; showing the disposition of an enemy; showing ill will and malevolence, or a desire to thwart and injure; occupied by an enemy or enemies; inimical; unfriendly
As a verb provoke
is to cause someone to become annoyed or angry.As an adjective hostile is
belonging or appropriate to an enemy; showing the disposition of an enemy; showing ill will and malevolence, or a desire to thwart and injure; occupied by an enemy or enemies; inimical; unfriendly.As a noun hostile is
an enemy.provoke
English
Verb
(provok)- Don't provoke the dog; it may try to bite you.
- Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.
- To the poet the meaning is what he pleases to make it, what it provokes in his own soul.
citation, page= , passage=Spain were provoked into a response and Villa almost provided a swift equaliser when he rounded Hart but found the angle too acute and could only hit the side-netting.}}
- (Dryden)
Synonyms
* (bring about a reaction) bring about, discompose, egg on, engender, evoke, grill, incite, induce, inflame, instigate, invoke, rouse, set off, stir up, whip upDerived terms
* provocation * provocativehostile
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- a hostile force
- hostile intentions
- a hostile country
- hostile to a sudden change