instigator

Rarely in·sti·gant

[in-sti-gey-ter]

noun

1. a person or thing that provokes or incites an action or course: Plays to be performed at the festival focus on a theme of how youth can be the instigators of positive change.

   Peaceful protesters outnumbered the violent instigators, and they kept the demonstration from becoming a riot.

   Plays to be performed at the festival focus on a theme of how youth can be the instigators of positive change.

Word History and Origins

Origin of instigator¹

First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin instigātor, equivalent to instigāt(us) + -or -or ² ( def. ); instigate ( def. )

Example Sentences

The Federal Protective Service detained an elderly man “after he asked the agents if he could just come up to the gate and rattle it so the antifa instigators would leave him and others alone.”

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Sorry: That’s the Stephen Miller seat and only one chief instigator at a time, please.

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Make no mistake: the Trump administration is the instigator here, and not just because they sent ICE in to start nabbing people willy-nilly.

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“These Radical Left protests, by instigators and often paid troublemakers, will NOT BE TOLERATED,” President Trump wrote on social media, shortly after ordering the National Guard onto our streets.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

In the meeting, he promised the "entire state apparatus" was "fully mobilised to track down the perpetrators and instigators of this violence and put them out of action", according to French media reports.

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Related Words

• ringleader