Provoked

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /pɹəˈvoʊkt/

Definitions

1. To have elicited a strong emotional reaction or response in someone through actions or words
2. To have aroused feelings of anger or discomfort in a person by means of deliberate provocation or challenges
3. Caused someone to react emotionally through certain actions or words ; stirred feelings of anger or annoyance in an individual by intentional behavior

Etymology: "Provoked" is the past tense and past participle of "provoke", so its history is that of the verb. "Provoke" was borrowed from Middle French "provoquer", which descends from Latin "prōvocāre", meaning "to call forth" or "to challenge". The Latin root is "vocāre", "to call", with the prefix "prō-", "forth", so the original sense was literally a calling out. That physical picture of summoning something into the open survives in the modern sense. To provoke was first to call someone out, to summon or challenge them, and only later to stir up a strong feeling such as anger. "Provocate", a doublet of the same Latin source, came into English as a separate word, and it is now largely obsolete.

Synonyms: incited, stimulated, agitated, inflamed, irritated

Antonyms: calmed, soothed, pacified, appeased