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agent provocateur

noun
/ˌɑʒɑnt pɹəˌvɔkəˈtɝ/US/ˌæʒɒ̃ pɹəˌvɒkəˈtɜː/UK

Etymology

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

  1. borrowed from agent provocateur

Definitions

  1. A person who secretly disrupts a group's activities from within the group, particularly…

    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.

    • "This agent-provocateur business is quite foreign to British justice."
    • 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.
    • 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.

The neighborhood

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sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA