Dictionary

agent provocateur en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌɑʒɑ̃-/ (US)
• /ˌeɪd͡ʒənt-/ (UK)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˌɑʒɑnt pɹəˌvɔkəˈtɝ/ (US)
• /-ˈtʊəɹ/ (US)
• /ˌæʒɒ̃ pɹəˌvɒkəˈtɜː/ (UK)

Etymology

Borrowed from French agent provocateur (literally “provocative agent”).

Meanings

1. A person who secretly disrupts a group's activities from within the group, particularly by encouraging or committing illegal acts to discredit the group or expose them to prosecution; an instigator, troublemaker.
   • I was told afterwards—quite possibly it was true—that agents provocateurs were touching off masses of explosive in order to increase the general noise and panic. 1938 April, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter IX, in Homage to Catalonia, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC:
   • Suspecting that the man was an agent provocateur sent by the Prince, Pottinger told him that regrettably he had neither the knowledge nor the authority to instruct him in this or any other religion. 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 50:
   • The criminalisation of protest has been aided by the director of public prosecution's recent guidelines on prosecuting protesters, which fail to account for the role of the police in prompting violence at demonstrations through tactics such as kettling, the use of batons, agents provocateurs and undercover policing. 2012 March 25, Nadine El-Enany, The Guardian:
   • "This agent-provocateur business is quite foreign to British justice." 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “In which the Reader is Shown the Habits of a Notorious Criminal”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

Forms

Relateds

false flag

Translations (35)

hy պրովոկատոր (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · fa مأمور تحریک (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · de Provokateur (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · nl agent-provocateur (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · ms agen provokasi (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · he פרובוקטור (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · pt agente provocador (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · fa آژان پرووکاتور (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · ja プロバカートル (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · ro agent provocator (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · eo provoka agento (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · pl prowokator (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · ru провокатор (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · de Agent Provocateur (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · cs agent provokatér (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · fi provokaattori (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · hy սադրիչ (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · sv lockfågel (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · ar مُبَلِّغ مُشَارِك (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · hu felbujtó (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · hu (beépített / civil ruhás rendőrségi) provokátor/provokatőr (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · id agen provokator (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · bg аге́нт-провока́тор (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · cmn 反間臥底 /反间卧底 (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · fr agent provocateur (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · it agente provocatrice (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · nl provocateur (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · tr ajan provokatör (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · ms ejen provokasi (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · de Lockspitzel (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · es agente provocador (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · hu bujtogató (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · it agent provocatore (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · pl prowokatorka (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within) · eu agente zirikatzaile (a person who disrupts a group's activities from within)