provocative

1. 1.

   serving or tending to provoke, excite, or stimulate; stimulating discussion or exciting controversy

   “a provocative remark”

   “a provocative smile”

   “provocative Irish tunes which...compel the hearers to dance”

   Antonymsunprovocative

   Similaragitativechallengingchargedincendiaryrousing
2. 2.

   intentionally arousing sexual desire

   “her gestures and postures became more wanton and provocative”

   Similarsexy

Questions about provocative

What does provocative mean?

provocative means "serving or tending to provoke, excite, or stimulate; stimulating discussion or exciting controversy". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in provocative?

provocative has 4 syllables: pro-vo-ca-tive. The stress falls on "vo". In IPA it is /pɹoʊˈvɑkətɪv/.

What is the opposite of provocative?

The recorded antonyms are unprovocative.

Is provocative a common word?

provocative is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with provocative?

1 word rhymes with provocative. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.