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Pique vs Provoke - What's the difference?

pique | provoke | Related terms |

Pique is a related term of provoke.


As a noun pique

is a kind of ribbed or corded fabric.

As a verb provoke is

to cause someone to become annoyed or angry.

pique

English

Etymology 1

(etyl) .

Noun

  • A feeling of enmity between two entities; ill-feeling, animosity; a transient feeling of wounded pride.
  • * Dr. H. More
  • Men take up piques and displeasures.
  • * De Quincey
  • Wars had arisen upon a personal pique .
  • A feeling of irritation or resentment, awakened by a social slight or injury; offence, especially taken in an emotional sense with little thought or consideration.
  • * 1994 , Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom , Abacus 2010, p. 7:
  • This defiance was not a fit of pique , but a matter of principle.
  • * Sweet Smell of Success (1957) screenplay by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman, starring Burt Lancaster as J.J. Hunsecker who says:
  • You think this is a personal thing with me? Are you telling me I think of this in terms of a personal pique ?
  • (obsolete) Keenly felt desire; a longing.
  • * Hudibras
  • Though it have the pique , and long, / 'Tis still for something in the wrong.

    Verb

    (piqu)
  • To wound the pride of; to sting; to nettle; to irritate; to fret; to excite to anger.
  • * 1913 ,
  • She treated him indulgently, as if he were a child. He thought he did not mind. But deep below the surface it piqued him.
  • * Byron
  • Pique her and soothe in turn.
  • (reflexive) To take pride in; to pride oneself on.
  • * John Locke
  • Men pique themselves upon their skill.
  • To excite (someone) to action by causing resentment or jealousy; to stimulate (a feeling, emotion); to offend by slighting.
  • I believe this will pique your interest.
    (Prior)

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) pic.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • In piquet, the right of the elder hand to count thirty in hand, or to play before the adversary counts one.
  • Etymology 3

    From (etyl) pique, from Central (etyl) piki.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A chigger or jigger, Tunga penetrans .
  • Etymology 4

    From (etyl)

    Noun

  • A durable ribbed fabric made from cotton, rayon, or silk.
  • References

    Anagrams

    * ----

    provoke

    English

    Verb

    (provok)
  • to cause someone to become annoyed or angry.
  • Don't provoke the dog; it may try to bite you.
  • * Bible, Eph. vi. 4
  • Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.
  • to bring about a reaction.
  • * J. Burroughs
  • To the poet the meaning is what he pleases to make it, what it provokes in his own soul.
  • *{{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=November 12 , author= , title=International friendly: England 1-0 Spain , work=BBC Sport 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.}}
  • (obsolete) To appeal.
  • (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 up

    Derived terms

    * provocation * provocative