instigation

English

Etymology

From Middle English instigacioun, from Old French instigacïon and Latin instīgātio.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

instigation (countable and uncountable, plural instigations)

1. The act of instigating, or the state of being instigated; incitement; especially to evil or wickedness.
   • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

     The departure was not unduly prolonged. […] Within the door Mrs. Spoker hastily imparted to Mrs. Love a few final sentiments on the subject of Divine Intention in the disposition of buckets; farewells and last commiserations; a deep, guttural instigation to the horse; and the wheels of the waggonette crunched heavily away into obscurity.

Related terms

• instigate
• instigator

Translations

act of instigating

• Armenian: սադրանք (hy) (sadrankʻ)
• Azerbaijani: təhrik
• Bulgarian: подстрека́телство (bg) n (podstrekátelstvo), предизви́кване (bg) n (predizvíkvane)
• Catalan: instigació f
• Italian: istigazione (it) f
• Kazakh: арандатушылық (arandatuşylyq)
• Malayalam: പ്രേരണ (ml) (prēraṇa)
• Maori: whakakīkīnga
• Ottoman Turkish: افساد (ifsad)
• Russian: подстрека́тельство (ru) n (podstrekátelʹstvo)
• Spanish: instigación f
• Swedish: anstiftan (sv) c
• Tocharian B: ṣertwe

French

Etymology

From Latin īnstigātiōnem.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

instigation f (plural instigations)

1. instigation

Related terms

• instiguer

Further reading

• “instigation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.