What's the difference between acerbate and provoke?

Acerbate


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To sour; to imbitter; to irritate.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Early on he wrote in a wide variety of outlets (including twice in the Guardian ), but his acerbic takes on the national security state have earned him a regular column at the paleocon mothership, the American Conservative.
  • (2) Lewis, 42, admitted he was "hugely embarrassed" after McKellen, 74, who plays the wizard Gandalf in the Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit films, responsed acerbically in the Radio Times.
  • (3) Scottish Ballet: The Nutcracker In recent years, Christmas at Scottish Ballet has been defined by Ashley Page’s witty, acerbic re-writes of the 19th century classics.
  • (4) In contrast, he returned to the mainstream in Robert Redford's factually based Quiz Show (1994), as the acerbic father to a fraudulent game-show contestant.
  • (5) Jess Phillips, Labour MP for the Birmingham Yardley, has already posted an acerbic tweet.
  • (6) He was a man of contradictions: he was a romantic, but also an acerbic and difficult character.
  • (7) Other work in the show recalls Soviet-era propaganda posters, and twists political slogans to acerbic effect.
  • (8) The acerbic correspondence of Jones and Briffa with Michael Mann of Penn State University , the chief creator of the hockey stick graph, is a central feature of the emails.
  • (9) The result is a show whose rapid-paced, ultra-acerbic dialogue is as funny as anything on television at the moment.
  • (10) And we will address it.” The Vermont senator urged attendees to “join me in this campaign to build a future that works for all of us, and not just the few on top.” Although the acerbic left-winger is a political veteran, this will be his first Democratic primary.
  • (11) Mark Gardner, Community Security Trust On Holocaust Memorial Day 2013, the Sunday Times ran a cartoon by its famously acerbic cartoonist, Gerald Scarfe, that depicts Binyamin Netanyahu using blood to cement a wall that he is building, that has parts of bodies trapped within it.
  • (12) His acerbic former adviser Dominic Cummings , long loathed by David Cameron (the feeling is mutual), is the campaign director.
  • (13) His acerbic wit and combative manner can ruffle feathers.
  • (14) The acerbic comments from the official Xinhua news agency come after Clinton, while on an official visit to Africa , appeared to question China's motives in the region.
  • (15) It received a warm reception in the House of Lords, though one peer commented acerbically that Adonis’s predecessor, Ruth Kelly, had just two years earlier called such a project “opportunistic, economically illiterate and hugely damaging to Britain’s national interests”.
  • (16) Angela Eagle The chair of the Labour national policy forum and shadow leader of the house has an acerbic wit capable of putting most Tory ministers on the back foot.
  • (17) Erdoğan’s acerbic response on Monday suggested the EU’s concerns were justified.
  • (18) Or rather, she was a sort of ultra-acerbic clown: an outlandishly dressed and painted pixie-harpy, who said whatever she liked.
  • (19) "As the wonderfully acerbic Anne Robinson said, 'The viewers don't want to watch ugly.'"
  • (20) The hashtag #Clapper on Twitter is filled with acerbic tweets mocking the "least untruthful" line.

Provoke


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To call forth; to call into being or action; esp., to incense to action, a faculty or passion, as love, hate, or ambition; hence, commonly, to incite, as a person, to action by a challenge, by taunts, or by defiance; to exasperate; to irritate; to offend intolerably; to cause to retaliate.
  • (v. i.) To cause provocation or anger.
  • (v. i.) To appeal. [A Latinism]

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "Zayani reportedly cited the political sensitivity of naturalising Sunni expatriates and wanted to avoid provoking the opposition," the embassy said.
  • (2) They can rarely be detected spontaneously but most often are provoked.
  • (3) Lactate-induced anxiety and symptom attacks without panic were seen more often in the groups with panic attacks, but a full-blown panic attack was provoked in only four subjects, all belonging to the groups with a history of panic attacks.
  • (4) It was an artwork that fired the imaginations of 2 million visitors who played with, were provoked by and plunged themselves into the curious atmosphere of The Weather Project , with its swirling mist and gigantic mirrors that covered the hall's ceiling.
  • (5) Following treatment with reserpine or alternatively with a combination of phenothiazines (Randolektil, Majeptil) a drug-induced parkinsonoid reaction was provoked in rats.
  • (6) Studies were conducted in isolated, buffer-perfused rat lungs to determine if prostaglandin (PG) E1 attenuated pulmonary edema provoked by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).
  • (7) It could provoke the gravest risk, that all three rating agencies declare a credit event and then there are big contagion risks for other countries," he said.
  • (8) Carotid nerves block provoked transient ventilatory depression, decreasing VT by 46% and fR by 26%, followed by recovery to steady-state values in VT, fR and PETCO2.
  • (9) The 2nd experiment investigated memory for details of a provoking experience.
  • (10) In normal as well as in cirrhotic subjects somatostatin infusion provoked a marked reduction of the IRI plasma level and this was uninfluenced by subsequent glucagon administration.
  • (11) Koons provoked a bigger stir with the news that he would be showing with gallery owner David Zwirner next year in an apparent defection from Zwirner's arch-rival Larry Gagosian, the world's most powerful art dealer.
  • (12) Pain relieved by antacids, age above 40 years, previous peptic ulcer disease, male sex, symptoms provoked by berries, and night pain relieved by antacids and food were found to predict organic dyspepsia with a sensitivity and specificity of approximately 70%, when applied on the observed material.
  • (13) Monosodium glutamate (MSG) taken per os has been found to stimulate gastric secretion provoked by pentagastrin.
  • (14) The higher degree of tachycardia in conscious dogs provoked by clenbuterol is a result of a reflex reaction to the vasodilation analogous to that of salbutamol.
  • (15) In some of the 10 patients who tolerated cow's milk challenge clinically there was an increase in both IgA- and IgM-containing cells suggestive of a local immunological reaction although no clinical intolerance was provoked and other immunological signs were weak or absent.
  • (16) They can genuinely believe their partner provoked them to commit the abuse, just so they could get them in trouble.
  • (17) After reviewing the immunological anomalies provoked by the human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) as well as their implications in pulmonary pathology, the authors enumerate the diagnostic and therapeutic methods currently available in the treatment of patients suffering from AIDS and pulmonary diseases.
  • (18) Coronary spasm was provoked by ergonovine maleate in four of 12 patients in group A (33%) and in three patients in group B (18%).
  • (19) Similar areas provoked by exercise or atrial pacing represent the site of acute ischaemia.
  • (20) Insulin-induced hypoglycemia provokes polyribosome disaggregation and accumulation of monomeric ribosomes in the brain of rats with hypoglycemic paresis and coma.