provocative
tending or serving to provoke; inciting, stimulating, irritating, or vexing.
something provocative.
Origin of provocative
1Other words from provocative
- pro·voc·a·tive·ly, adverb
- pro·voc·a·tive·ness, noun
- half-pro·voc·a·tive, adjective
- non·pro·voc·a·tive, adjective
- non·pro·voc·a·tive·ly, adverb
- non·pro·voc·a·tive·ness, noun
- qua·si-pro·voc·a·tive, adjective
- qua·si-pro·voc·a·tive·ly, adverb
- un·pro·voc·a·tive, adjective
- un·pro·voc·a·tive·ly, adverb
- un·pro·voc·a·tive·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use provocative in a sentence
Till they met, the movement, the provocativeness was all on Lady Desdemona's side, Finn standing erect and still as graven bronze.
Jan | A. J. DawsonIt tinged her words and looks with a provocativeness, a challenge, a consciousness of feminine power formerly foreign to them.
A Young Man's Year | Anthony HopeWhat counts is not the provocativeness but that we lift our gaze, determined to see, not just to look for the comforting familiar.
The Civilization of Illiteracy | Mihai NadinShe used all her physical equipment with unconscious provocativeness, except her eyes, which were blankly distant.
At the Post | Horace Leonard Gold
British Dictionary definitions for provocative
/ (prəˈvɒkətɪv) /
acting as a stimulus or incitement, esp to anger or sexual desire; provoking: a provocative look; a provocative remark
Derived forms of provocative
- provocatively, adverb
- provocativeness, noun
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
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