instigate

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“
So many instigate, assist, or sanction the commission of every one of these actions that no one who has a hand in them feels himself morally responsible for it.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. transitive verb To urge on; goad.
  2. transitive verb To stir up; foment.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples (30)

  • SCUM will never instigate, encourage or participate in riots of any kind or any other form of indiscriminate destruction. —  SCUM Manifesto
  • Use the Site to instigate or encourage others to commit illegal activities or cause injury or property damage to any person.
  • Use the Site to instigate or encourage others to commit illegal activities or cause injury to property or damage to any person;
  • You hereby agree not to instigate, support, maintain, or authorize any action, claim, or lawsuit against J. or its owners / operators, affiliates, and / or licensors, or any other person, on the grounds that any use of a Submission, or any derivative works thereof, infringe any of your rights as creator of the Submission, including, without limitation, trademark rights, copyrights, publicity rights, privacy rights, and moral rights or droit moral. —  J. Weekly
  • Scratch the word "instigate" as is true, may not be the appropriate word. —  Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider
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This word has been looked up 107 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same contextWord Family

instigate:   instigated ·  instigating
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin īnstīgāre, īnstīgāt-; see steig- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Latin instigatus, past participle of instigare (later Italian instigare, istigare = Spanish Portuguese instigar = Provencal instigar, istiguar = French instiguer), stimulate, set on, incite, urge, from in, on, + stigare, akin to stinguere, push, goad: see distinguish, stigma, stimulus.
 

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/ˈɪnstɪgeɪt/
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