Word · CEFR C1 · Frequency #9872
provocative
激发感情的，挑拨的，刺激的
serving or tending to provoke, excite, or stimulate; stimulating discussion or exciting controversy
- 1.
Serving or tending to elicit a strong, often negative sentiment in another person; exasperating.
引起或倾向于引起他人强烈且往往负面情绪的；使人恼火的。
- 2.
serving or tending to provoke, excite, or stimulate; stimulating discussion or exciting controversy; ; ; - Anthony Trollope
起煽动、激发或刺激作用的；引发讨论或引起争议的。
- 3.
Serving or tending to excite, stimulate or arouse sexual interest; sexy.
引起或倾向于引起性兴趣的；性感的。
- 4.
exciting sexual desire
激起性欲的。
- 5.
Provoking or triggering any response.
引起或触发任何反应的。
引起或倾向于引起他人强烈且往往负面情绪的；使人恼火的。；起煽动、激发或刺激作用的；引发讨论或引起争议的。；引起或倾向于引起性兴趣的；性感的。；激起性欲的。；引起或触发任何反应的。
In use
The artist's provocative painting sparked a heated debate among critics.
His provocative comments during the meeting upset many colleagues.
She wore a provocative dress to the party, attracting everyone's attention.
a provocative remark
a provocative smile
provocative Irish tunes which...compel the hearers to dance
her gestures and postures became more wanton and provocative
provocative + noun
用作定语，修饰名词。
Connections
Collocations
- provocative remark
- 挑衅性言论
- His provocative remark sparked a heated debate.他那挑衅性的言论引发了一场激烈的辩论。
- provocative behavior
- 挑拨行为
- The students were warned about their provocative behavior in class.学生们因在课堂上的挑拨行为而受到警告。
- provocative dress
- 性感着装
- She wore a provocative dress to the party.她穿了一条性感的裙子去参加派对。
- provocative question
- 刺激性问题
- The journalist asked a provocative question during the press conference.记者在新闻发布会上问了一个刺激性问题。
- politically provocative
- 政治煽动性的
- The artist's work was considered politically provocative.那位艺术家的作品被认为具有政治煽动性。
Learner notes
Memory Tip
联想：pro（向前）+voc（叫喊）+ative（的）→向前叫喊，激怒别人。
Context & Register
语域：neutral 常见场景：political discussion、fashion industry 该词通常用于正式或严肃的讨论中，也比较常见于艺术、时尚等领域的评论，强调引发强烈情感或争议。在一般日常对话中使用频率较低。
Grammar Note
作为形容词时，常作定语或表语；作为名词时，指刺激物，可数。
Pronunciation & Spelling
Only 'evocative' shares the exact stress and vowel pattern with 'provocative' (stressed second syllable with /ɑː/). 'talkative' and 'quantitative' have first-syllable stress; 'informative', 'imaginative', 'collaborative' have second-syllable stress with different vowels.
Usage priority
Collins 词频等级为 1，建议结合例句记忆，而不是只背中文释义。
Learn the forms together
页面下方列出了常见词形变化。学习时注意它们在句子中的语法位置。
Dictionary facts from ECDICT, OCTANOVE, WIKTIONARY.