Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who or that which instigates; an inciter.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who instigates or incites.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A person who intentionally incites or starts something, especially one that starts trouble.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person who initiates a course of action
  • noun someone who deliberately foments trouble

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin instīgātor ("stimulator")

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Examples

  • John Brown biography; main instigator of the Civil war

    Steven Spielberg and Will Smith to Remake Oldboy?! | /Film 2008

  • The GUD Magazine Issue 3 instigator is Debbie Moorhouse, who joined GUD as a copyeditor after her story Sundown was published in Issue 0.

    Mechanical Flight editormum 2007

  • Bush may have never stated directly that Iraq was the main instigator of 9/11, but he repeatedly juxtaposed comments about 9/11 and Iraq in such a way that millions of Americans came to believe that Iraq was the main force behind the 9/11 tragedy.

    Letters to the Editor 2007

  • Bush may have never stated directly that Iraq was the main instigator of 9/11, but he repeatedly juxtaposed comments about 9/11 and Iraq in such a way that millions of Americans came to believe that Iraq was the main force behind the 9/11 tragedy.

    Letters to the Editor 2007

  • Bush may have never stated directly that Iraq was the main instigator of 9/11, but he repeatedly juxtaposed comments about 9/11 and Iraq in such a way that millions of Americans came to believe that Iraq was the main force behind the 9/11 tragedy.

    Letters to the Editor 2007

  • According to the hagiographic Dominican annals, Vaez turned to the main instigator, and, even as the arrows were flying at him, calmly said "Pila, I come to teach you the law of God, and you kill me?"

    How Taiwan Became Chinese 2006

  • Myers speaks to reconciliation as transcending the harmful actions against you or the community to the point the instigator is no longer considered “other” in the culture.

    Walking with the Poor: a review 2006

  • The instigator is his brother-in-law, ostensibly an anarchist but in reality the paid agent of a foreign agency.

    Archive 2005-07-01 2005

  • The instigator is his brother-in-law, ostensibly an anarchist but in reality the paid agent of a foreign agency.

    Suicide bombing at Greenwich 2005

  • (Sushi) and along with us we took the one main instigator of birthday mayhem in the office.

    THE FIRST NANOWRIMO PRIZE PACKAGE - MY BIRTHDAY ROCKS - MORE! deep_bluze 2004

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