To deliberately cause someone to feel angry or annoyed, or to cause a reaction or response to happen.
From Latin 'provocare' (pro- 'forth' + vocare 'to call'). Original sense was 'to call forth' or 'challenge to combat,' which evolved into modern sense of stirring up emotion.
The original Latin root reveals that provocation is literally a 'calling forth'—you're summoning something latent in a person to emerge, which is why provocation feels like a magical spell that works on human psychology.
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