agent provocateur

[ ey-juhnt pruh-vok-uh-tur; French a-zhahn praw-vaw-ka-tœr ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

, plural a·gents pro·vo·ca·teurs [ey, -j, uh, nts pr, uh, -vok-, uh, -, tur, a, -zhah, n, p, r, aw-vaw-k, a, -, tœr].

a secret agent hired to incite suspected persons to some illegal action, outbreak, etc., that will make them liable to punishment.

agent provocateur

/ aʒɑ̃ prɔvɔkatœr /

a secret agent employed to provoke suspected persons to commit illegal acts and so be discredited or liable to punishment

1875–80; < French: inciting agent; provocation, -eur

“We basically associate ourselves as the La Perla or the Agent Provocateur for the transgender community,” Lauz said.

Her sensibilities tend more toward, say, an Agent Provocateur bustier than business wear.

Once she overcame her shock, Esfandiari realized she was arrested because she was perceived as an agent provocateur.

I was looking about to find the German agent provocateur, but I failed to find him.

That is why one was never sure that the stranger who denounced Rasputin and his friends was not an agent-provocateur.

My answer was that a study of many labor cases had taught me the methods of the agent provocateur.

The spy, the paid informer, the agent provocateur, play the same part now as in the sixteenth century.

He found discrepancies in the accounts, and intimated that the Government had adopted the odious rôle of the agent provocateur.

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