agent provocateur

[ ey-juhnt pruh-vok-uh-tur; French a-zhahnpraw-vaw-ka-tœr ]
See synonyms for agent provocateur on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural a·gents pro·vo·ca·teurs [ey-juhnts pruh-vok-uh-tur; French a-zhahnpraw-vaw-ka-tœr]. /ˈeɪ dʒənts prəˌvɒk əˈtɜr; French a ʒɑ̃ prɔ vɔ kaˈtœr/.
  1. a secret agent hired to incite suspected persons to some illegal action, outbreak, etc., that will make them liable to punishment.

Origin of agent provocateur

1
1875–80; <French: inciting agent; see provocation, -eur

Words Nearby agent provocateur

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use agent provocateur in a sentence

  • That is why one was never sure that the stranger who denounced Rasputin and his friends was not an agent-provocateur.

    The Minister of Evil | William Le Queux
  • My answer was that a study of many labor cases had taught me the methods of the agent provocateur.

  • The spy, the paid informer, the agent provocateur, play the same part now as in the sixteenth century.

    Ten Tudor Statesmen | Arthur D. Innes
  • He found discrepancies in the accounts, and intimated that the Government had adopted the odious rôle of the agent provocateur.

British Dictionary definitions for agent provocateur

agent provocateur

/ French (aʒɑ̃ prɔvɔkatœr) /


nounplural agents provocateurs (aʒɑ̃ prɔvɔkatœr)
  1. a secret agent employed to provoke suspected persons to commit illegal acts and so be discredited or liable to punishment

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