provocatively
Americanadverb
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In his 18th opera, Giuseppe Verdi provocatively made the lead role a courtesan in contemporary Paris.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 13, 2026
For this reason, consciousness studies, Pollan provocatively suggests, may prompt the first scientific revolution in nearly 500 years.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 24, 2026
A US negotiator even provocatively put an empty chair with a Chinese flag.
From Barron's • Feb. 1, 2026
“Have y’all not learned?” an agent provocatively asks a legal observer in a video that’s been circulating among volunteers, two days after Good was killed.
From Slate • Jan. 23, 2026
I’d been minding my own business at home, hadn’t dressed up, had not acted provocatively, had not flirted, had not, I was sure, smiled when he waved for me to look.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
