Synonyms:
agitative, agitating, provoking
Meaning: causing or tending to cause anger or resentment; "a provoking delay at the airport"
Usage examples
How very provoking!
"My dear," said he to his lady, "it is very provoking that we should be so few.
She leaves me with an incredulous smile, and that most provoking phrase, "O yes!
He maintained a good deal of reserve, answering if addressed, but never provoking a reply.
"Was it not too provoking, papa?" exclaimed Elsie, as she followed him into his room on their return from their walk.
'And this one is the most provoking of all--but I'll tell you what--' she added, as a sudden thought struck her, 'I'll follow it up to the very top shelf of all.
Only I couldn't quite reach it.' 'And it certainly DID seem a little provoking ('almost as if it happened on purpose,' she thought) that, though she managed to pick plenty of beautiful rushes as the boat glided by, there was always a more lovely one that she couldn't reach.
The young king then was, as we have seen, a prey to a double excitement; and he said to himself as he looked in a glass, "O king!--king by name, and not in fact;--phantom, vain phantom art thou!--inert statue, which has no other power than that of provoking salutations from courtiers, when wilt thou be able to raise thy velvet arm, or clench thy silken hand?
Between amusement and pique he continued to stare while the elderly American recovered his breath and De Morbihan jabbered on with unfailing vivacity; and he thought that this closer scrutiny discovered in her face contours suggesting maturity of thought beyond her apparent years--which were somewhat less than the sum of Lanyard's--and with this the suggestion of an elusive, provoking quality of wistful languor, a hint of patient melancholy....