provocative
/pɹəˈvɑ.kə.tɪv/adjective, noun
provocative is spelled P-R-O-V-O-C-A-T-I-V-E. The wrong spelling people search most is provacative: about 490 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Provocative is an adjective meaning “Serving or tending to elicit a strong, often negative sentiment in another person; exasperating”.
How many letters and syllables are in provocative?
| Letters | 11: P-R-O-V-O-C-A-T-I-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.8 times per million words; the 16,228th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, provacative, about 490 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell provocative?
Provocative is spelled P-R-O-V-O-C-A-T-I-V-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for provocative in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is provocative?
Provocative appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,228th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce provocative?
- UK /pɹəˈvɒk.ə.tɪv/
- US /pɹəˈvɑ.kə.tɪv/
- US [pɹəˈvɑ.kə.ɾɪv]
Provocative has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-provocative.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with provocative?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as provocative from its last stressed vowel (/ɑkətɪv/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of provocative
- more provocative comparative
- most provocative superlative
- provocatives plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does provocative mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Serving or tending to elicit a strong, often negative sentiment in another person; exasperating.
- 2
Serving or tending to excite, stimulate or arouse sexual interest; sexy.
- 3
Provoking or triggering any response.
noun
- 1
Something that provokes an appetite, especially a sexual appetite; an aphrodisiac.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Provocative in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense tending to provoke strong negative feeling:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | provocateur, provocatrice |
| German | provokant |
| Spanish | provocador, provocativo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does provocative come from?
Borrowed from Middle French provocatif, and its source, Late Latin provocativus, from Latin provocare.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).