instigator

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That's called being an instigator, which is only awesome when the instigator is on your team.

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Definitions (4)

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  1. One who or that which instigates; an inciter. He aggravated the guilt of his perfidy, in the most atrocious degree, by being himself the first mover and instigator of that injustice. Burke, Charge against Warren Hastings.

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Examples (50)

  • And Somers the instigator, the arch-spy, the responsible little swine with his beard. —  Lawrence - Kangaroo
  • The King having, in the month of March of this year, determined upon proceeding in person to quell the disturbances in the provinces, and to compel the Duc de Bouillon, who was known as the instigator of these disorders, to obedience, made preparations on an extensive scale for this purpose, and raised a powerful army in order to prove his resolution to terminate all similar attempts. —  The Life of Marie de Medicis, Vol. 1
  • Late in the second period, Crosby earned 19 penalty minutes, including an unsportsmanlike conduct and an instigator, after fighting with Brett McLean off a faceoff. —  Latest News
  • My son the little instigator has been getting in other people's business again, however his victims are not putting up with his crap and told on him, which got him in trouble. —  Holidailies 2008
  • As McLaren nailed their sporting director, the popular Dave Ryan, as the instigator of an attempt to twice hoodwink race stewards, Hamilton began repairing the damage his scheme had wreaked. —  Daily Express News Feeds
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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instigator:   instigators
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 (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French instigateur = Provencal istiguador = Spanish Portuguese instigador = Italian istigatore, instigatore, from Latin instigator, an instigator, from instigare, instigate: see instigate.
 

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