- to cause by incitement; foment: to instigate a quarrel.
- to urge, provoke, or incite to some action or course: to instigate the people to revolt.
Origin of instigate
SynonymsSee more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
Examples from the Web for instigating
Nor do I believe that was what the president was instigating.The South Sudan Clashes Are No Tribal War
December 30, 2013
Instigating military involvement without considering these issues is nothing more than a short-sighted action.A Plea for Peace in Syria
September 26, 2013
Australian brand Solid Gold Bomb was caught hawking rape-themed T-shirts on Amazon's UK site, instigating public horror.Rape Slogan T-Shirts Spark Outrage
Misty White Sidell
March 4, 2013
Bakkar and his fellow Salafists were blamed by some for instigating the chaos, though they condemned the violence from the start.Nader Bakkar, Salafist Spokeman, on the Embassy Riots and Bridge Building in a Post–Arab Spring Egypt
September 25, 2012
But he said he later saw a police report accusing him of instigating the violence and organizing a riot outside the courtroom.Chess Champ Garry Kasparov: ‘They Were Trying to Break My Leg’
August 17, 2012
The question is, whether he be guilty as joining with him, or instigating of him?
Stevens was charged with instigating riots and barn-burnings.Dixie After the War
Myrta Lockett Avary
The bards have ever been foremost in instigating insurrections in Wales.Both Sides the Border
G. A. Henty
For a long time Cetchwayo had been instigating rebellion and preparing for war.South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 1 (of 6)
His merit in that eminence was, by instigating a tyrant to injustice, to provoke a people to rebellion.The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886
Ministry of Education
- to bring about, as by incitement or urgingto instigate rebellion
- to urge on to some drastic or inadvisable action
Word Origin and History for instigating
1540s, back-formation from instigation or else from Latin instigatus, past participle of instigare "to urge on, incite" (see instigation). Related: Instigated; instigates; instigating.