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Provoke vs Rebuke - What's the difference?

provoke | rebuke |

As verbs the difference between provoke and rebuke

is that provoke is to cause someone to become annoyed or angry while rebuke is to criticise harshly; to reprove.

As a noun rebuke is

a harsh criticism.

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

    Related terms

    * provocateur

    rebuke

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A harsh criticism.
  • * 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track
    • There was the sternness of an old-fashioned Tour patron in his rebuke to the young Frenchman Pierre Rolland, the only one to ride away from the peloton and seize the opportunity for a lone attack before being absorbed back into the bunch, where he was received with coolness.

    Verb

    (rebuk)
  • To criticise harshly; to reprove.

    • Synonyms

    * See also