agent provocateur

Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of agent provocateur But De Niro’s attempt at playing agent provocateur stumbled badly: His decision to stand outside the New York Trump trial cost the actor his credibility. Armond White, National Review, 5 June 2024 Members of the crowd accused Epps of being an agent provocateur, which later helped spur the conspiracy theories about him. Justin Jouvenal, Washington Post, 9 Jan. 2024 Jester, troubadour, agent provocateur, Serge Gainsbourg rhymed his way through life in a fog of Gitanes smoke, making music of every genre. Roger Cohen, New York Times, 25 Sep. 2023 The Globoplay Original, produced by the company’s journalism arm, examines the lives of those adjacent to the faction through interviews with the contingents’ defenders, defectors, sociologists and an agent provocateur that develops carefully-orchestrated chaos. Holly Jones, Variety, 20 Mar. 2023 Anyone who maligns the sultan is immediately thought to be an agent provocateur working for the sultan, and probably is. Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 30 Sep. 2022 The last dispatch from the alien/agent provocateur known as Greg Tate beamed out from perhaps his most inconspicuous dwelling. Tirhakah Love, Vulture, 14 Dec. 2021 At the same time, agents provocateurs played a significant role in the turbulence. Adam Hochschild, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2019 It is now known who that agent provocateur was that the FBI used and John Brennan used and James Clapper. Fox News, 17 May 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for agent provocateur
Noun
  • Also starring Jamie Lee Curtis, the original 2003 flick found Lohan’s character — a teenage rebel who fronts a rock band called Pink Slip — magically switching bodies with her mother.
    Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 28 May 2025
  • Bo was a rebel on a motorcycle who soon fell for the rich and spirited Hope.
    Victoria Edel, People.com, 26 May 2025
Noun
  • For decades, the Philippine armed forces battled insurgents in the southern reaches of the archipelago.
    ELY RATNER, Foreign Affairs, 27 May 2025
  • The insurgents have become the establishment, and the purpose of the establishment is always to protect itself.
    Chris Stirewalt, The Hill, 23 May 2025
Noun
  • Running battles between troublemakers and members of the CRS, France’s notorious riot police, continued throughout the night.
    Tom Williams, New York Times, 2 June 2025
  • Honestly, these lovable troublemakers could have starred in their own version of Homeward Bound.
    EW Staff, EW.com, 27 May 2025
Noun
  • In between those two explosions are several plane crashes, a spate of trigger-happy communist revolutionaries, and a homicidal argument over the profits from a poison gas that has killed more than 10,000 soldiers.
    David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 18 May 2025
  • There, Neto and Rafael — revolutionaries and lovers — are separated by the Salvadoran conflict.
    Chris Vognar, Los Angeles Times, 14 May 2025
Noun
  • For now, Starship has made eight suborbital launch attempts and managed three successful captures of the Super Heavy booster.
    Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 23 May 2025
  • The editorial also pointed out that COVID booster uptake over the past two seasons has been low, with fewer than one-quarter of Americans receiving shots each year — ranging from less than 10 percent of children younger than 12 in the 2024–2025 season, to 50 percent of adults over 75.
    Tom Gavin, EverydayHealth.com, 21 May 2025
Noun
  • Listen to this article 3 min Professional boxer Georgia O'Connor, 25, has died after a bout with cancer, the professional boxer's promoter, Boxxer, said.
    Chantz Martin, FOXNews.com, 23 May 2025
  • The death of the 25-year-old British professional boxer was announced on Thursday, May 22, by her promoter, Boxxer, in a statement obtained by The Guardian.
    Angel Saunders, People.com, 23 May 2025
Noun
  • Under current Catholic doctrine, only men may become priests, based on the belief that Jesus chose male apostles.
    Barney Henderson, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 May 2025
  • Paprocki said he was struck by Pope Francis’ joy and reflected that the pontiff spoke to Paprocki and the other bishops with him not as a boss, but as a fellow apostle tasked with the same mission all priests have — to passionately advance their faith.
    The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 21 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Ever since companies began to use enterprise AI, advocates have continually said that the technology wasn’t out to replace jobs, and that humans would always be a necessary part of the equation.
    Megan Poinski, Forbes.com, 28 May 2025
  • Since that diagnosis, Emma has become an advocate for caregivers, a role she was thrust into without warning.
    Mark Gray, People.com, 27 May 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Agent provocateur.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/agent%20provocateur. Accessed 6 Jun. 2025.

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