Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A person employed to associate with suspected individuals or groups with the purpose of inciting them to commit acts that will make them liable to punishment.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A person who secretly disrupts a group's activities from within the group; an
instigator ,troublemaker .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a secret agent who incites suspected persons to commit illegal acts
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[French : agent, agent + provocateur, instigator.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Borrowing from French agent provocateur (literally "provocative agent")
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Examples
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