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The meaning of AGENT PROVOCATEUR is one employed to associate with suspected persons and by pretending sympathy with their aims to incite them to some incriminating action. How to use agent provocateur in a sentence.
An agent provocateur may be a police officer or a secret agent of police who encourages suspects to carry out a crime under conditions where evidence can be obtained; or who suggests the commission of a crime to another, in hopes they will go along with the suggestion and be convicted of the crime.
AGENT PROVOCATEUR meaning: 1. a person who intentionally encourages people to do something illegal, usually so that they can…. Learn more.
Both "agent provocateur" and the shortened "provocateur" can refer to someone (such as an undercover police officer or a political operative) whose job is to incite people to break the law so that they can be arrested, but only "provocateur" is used in English with the more general sense of "one who provokes."
What does the noun agent provocateur mean? There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun agent provocateur . See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
Definition of agent provocateur noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. a person who is employed to encourage people in political groups to do something illegal so that they can be arrested. Word Origin late 19th cent.: French, literally ‘provocative agent’. Want to learn more?
An agent provocateur is a person who is employed by the government or the police to encourage certain groups of people to break the law, so they can arrest them or make them lose public support. Agents provocateurs may seek to discredit the opposition.
AGENT PROVOCATEUR meaning: a person employed to encourage people to break the law so that they can be arrested
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A French phrase meaning provoking agent, used to mean a person who deliberately encourages another to commit an illegal act for which they can be prosecuted.