Provocative

//pɹəˈvɒk.ə.tɪv// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Something that provokes an appetite, especially a sexual appetite; an aphrodisiac.

    "She used by way of Provocative, to read the wanton Verses of her Paramour in the day time [...]."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Serving or tending to elicit a strong, often negative sentiment in another person; exasperating.
  2. 2
    Serving or tending to excite, stimulate or arouse sexual interest; sexy.
  3. 3
    Provoking or triggering any response.

    "[I]t is a terrible long and slippery descent, and a shocking bad road. At the bottom, however, there is a pleasant public; whereat we must really take a modest quencher, for the down air is provocative of thirst."

Adjective
  1. 1
    serving or tending to provoke, excite, or stimulate; stimulating discussion or exciting controversy wordnet
  2. 2
    intentionally arousing sexual desire wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
agitatingchallengingchargedrousingsexyacceptable

Example

More examples

"After seeing her provocative body, he became obsessed with her."

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French provocatif, and its source, Late Latin provocativus, from Latin provocare.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.