What's the difference between compel and provoke?

Compel


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To drive or urge with force, or irresistibly; to force; to constrain; to oblige; to necessitate, either by physical or moral force.
  • (v. t.) To take by force or violence; to seize; to exact; to extort.
  • (v. t.) To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate.
  • (v. t.) To gather or unite in a crowd or company.
  • (v. t.) To call forth; to summon.
  • (v. i.) To make one yield or submit.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But he lost much of his earnings betting on cards and horses, and he has readily admitted that it was losses of up to £750,000 a night that compelled him to make some of his worst films.
  • (2) This provides a compelling argument that the protein kinase function of p37mos is an intrinsic property of the protein.
  • (3) Compelling evidence of the transference in this case occurred in the ninth month of treatment when the therapist told the child that she would be going on vacation.
  • (4) "We continue to believe that our final proposal was compelling and represented full value for AstraZeneca based on the information that was available to us," said the British-born executive.
  • (5) These advances will compel hospitals to plan for their funding and implementation.
  • (6) Certainly the affidavit against Ferdaus paints a compelling picture of a man hellbent on waging jihad in America and eager to take the guns and explosives eventually supplied to him by the undercover FBI agents.
  • (7) The Hollande team maintained that all topics were on the table and also held open the prospect that France could refuse to ratify Merkel's fiscal pact compelling debt and deficit reduction in the eurozone unless eurobonds were recognised as a possible tool.
  • (8) As a self-described rationalist, she felt compelled to act.
  • (9) Brown makes policy statements all the time, and we know exactly what he's said about social justice etc - but he has never been able to give the public a compelling answer to this question.
  • (10) The evidence has long been compelling that the primary fuel of what the US calls terrorism are the very policies of aggression justified in the name of stopping terrorism .
  • (11) Christine Langan of BBC Films told Screen Daily: "Compelling, funny and moving, Gold is a gem of a story and BBC Films is proud to be participating in bringing it to an international audience."
  • (12) The symbolism and the politics of the law are far more troubling and far more toxic than the actual substance of what the law will do itself.” That symbolism compelled store owners in Indianapolis to put up signs that say: “Instead of hate, we proudly serve everyone,” “This Hoosier still opposes the anti-LGBT license to discriminate,” and “Open for service!
  • (13) The bill, voted through a panel of the house energy and power subcommittee, would compel Obama to over-rule demands for a further review of the project from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and disregard local opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline from landowners along its 1,700-mile route.
  • (14) Pickles said he would also be making an order under the Local Government Act 2000 to compel Rotherham council to hold all-out elections in 2016 and every fourth year thereafter.
  • (15) In the Museum of the Warsaw Rising, the sound effects are powerful, the visuals compelling, the tragedy forcefully conveyed.
  • (16) Because we're a species of storytellers, we find movie-plot threats uniquely compelling .
  • (17) These results were perceived as scientifically compelling as well as clinically relevant.
  • (18) Extraterrestrials Decades of searching for signs of alien life have so far turned up a blank, yet the question of whether life on Earth is a one-off is among the most compelling in science.
  • (19) Although findings in animals are compelling, observations in humans are less clear.
  • (20) His videos make for compelling first-person testimony.

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.