agent provocateur

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

/ ˈeɪ dʒənt prəˌvɒk əˈtɜr; French a ʒɑ̃ prɔ vɔ kaˈtœr /

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noun, plural a·gents pro·vo·ca·teurs

[ey-juhnts pruh-vok-uh-tur; French a-zhahnpraw-vaw-ka-tœr]. /ˈeɪ dʒənts prəˌvɒk əˈtɜr; French a ʒɑ̃ prɔ vɔ kaˈtœr/.

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

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Origin of agent provocateur

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

Words nearby agent provocateur

agentival, agentive, agent noun, agent of production, Agent Orange, agent provocateur, agentry, Age of Anxiety, Age of Aquarius, age of consent, age of discretion

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use agent provocateur in a sentence

As he did this week, Carlson went so far as to feature specific supposed agent provocateurs — a “Person Two” and a “Person Three” who were named in the indictment of Thomas Caldwell.
Tucker Carlson and the desperate, shoddy search for Jan. 6 ‘provocateurs’|Aaron Blake|December 10, 2021|Washington Post
“We basically associate ourselves as the La Perla or the Agent Provocateur for the transgender community,” Lauz said.
Introducing the First Lingerie Line for Transgender Women|Claire Stern|February 5, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Her sensibilities tend more toward, say, an Agent Provocateur bustier than business wear.
Inside the High-End Fashion Sensibility on CBS’s ‘The Good Wife’|Jace Lacob|October 23, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Once she overcame her shock, Esfandiari realized she was arrested because she was perceived as an agent provocateur.
My Iranian Prison|Sandra McElwaine|September 25, 2009|DAILY BEAST

I was looking about to find the German agent provocateur, but I failed to find him.
Spies of the Kaiser|William Le Queux
That is why one was never sure that the stranger who denounced Rasputin and his friends was not an agent-provocateur.
The Minister of Evil|William Le Queux
My answer was that a study of many labor cases had taught me the methods of the agent provocateur.
The Profits of Religion, Fifth Edition|Upton Sinclair
The spy, the paid informer, the agent provocateur, play the same part now as in the sixteenth century.
Ten Tudor Statesmen|Arthur D. Innes
He found discrepancies in the accounts, and intimated that the Government had adopted the odious rôle of the agent provocateur.
The Annual Register 1914|Anonymous

British Dictionary definitions for agent provocateur

agent provocateur

/ French (aʒɑ̃ prɔvɔkatœr) /

noun plural agents provocateurs (aʒɑ̃ prɔvɔkatœr)

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

agent provocateur

Origin of agent provocateur

Words nearby agent provocateur

Words related to agent provocateur

How to use agent provocateur in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for agent provocateur