Poke vs. Provoke — What's the Difference?

Jab or prod (someone or something) with one's finger or a sharp object

To incite to anger or resentment

Thrust (something, such as one's head) in a particular direction

To stir to action or feeling

An act of poking someone or something

To give rise to; bring about

A look or search around a place

To bring about deliberately; induce

Power or acceleration in a car

(transitive) To cause someone to become annoyed or angry.

A woman's bonnet with a projecting brim or front, popular especially in the early 19th century.

(transitive) To bring about a reaction.

A bag or small sack

(obsolete) To appeal.

Another term for pokeweed

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.

A North American plant of the lily family with a poisonous black rhizome and tall sprays of yellow-green flowers.

To cause provocation or anger.

A Hawaiian dish of marinated raw fish or seafood, often served over rice

To appeal. [A Latinism]

To push or jab at, as with a finger or an arm; prod.

Call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses);

To make (a hole or pathway, for example) by or as if by prodding, elbowing, or jabbing

Call forth;

To push; thrust

Provide the needed stimulus for

To stir (a fire) by prodding the wood or coal with a poker or stick.

Annoy continually or chronically;

(Slang) To strike; punch.

To make thrusts or jabs, as with a stick or poker.

To pry or meddle; intrude

To search or look curiously in a desultory manner

To proceed in a slow or lazy manner; putter

To thrust forward; appear

A push, thrust, or jab.

(Slang) A punch or blow with the fist

One who moves slowly or aimlessly; a dawdler.

A projecting brim at the front of a bonnet.

A large bonnet having a projecting brim.

A sack; a bag.

Pokeweed.

A Hawaiian salad or appetizer traditionally consisting of cubed raw fish, often yellowfin tuna, that is marinated in soy sauce and sesame oil, and mixed with diced onions, sesame seeds, and ginger.

To prod or jab with an object such as a finger or a stick.

To stir up a fire to remove ash or promote burning.

(figuratively) To rummage; to feel or grope around.

To modify the value stored in (a memory address).

(transitive) To put a poke device to prevent leaping or breaking fences on (an animal).

(transitive) To thrust at with the horns; to gore.

To notify (another user) of activity on social media or an instant messenger.

(transitive) To thrust (something) in a particular direction such as the tongue.

To penetrate in sexual intercourse.

A prod, jab, or thrust.

A lazy person; a dawdler.

A stupid or uninteresting person.

An old, worn-out horse.

(US) A device to prevent an animal from leaping or breaking through fences, consisting of a yoke with a pole inserted, pointed forward.

The storage of a value in a memory address, typically to modify the behaviour of a program or to cheat at a video game.

A notification sent to get another user's attention on social media or an instant messenger.

A poke bonnet.

A hit, especially an extra base hit.

A sack or bag.

A long, wide sleeve.

An ice cream cone.

(dialectal) Pokeweed.

(Hawaii) Slices or cubes of raw fish or other raw seafood, mixed with sesame oil, seaweed, sea salt, herbs, spices, or other flavorful ingredients.

A large North American herb of the genus Phytolacca (Phytolacca decandra), bearing dark purple juicy berries; - called also garget, pigeon berry, pocan, and pokeweed. The root and berries have emetic and purgative properties, and are used in medicine. The young shoots are sometimes eaten as a substitute for asparagus, and the berries are said to be used in Europe to color wine.

A bag; a sack; a pocket.

A long, wide sleeve; - called also poke sleeve.

The act of poking; a thrust; a jog; as, a poke in the ribs.

A lazy person; a dawdler; also, a stupid or uninteresting person.

A contrivance to prevent an animal from leaping or breaking through fences. It consists of a yoke with a pole inserted, pointed forward.

To thrust or push against or into with anything pointed; hence, to stir up; to excite; as, to poke a fire.

To thrust with the horns; to gore.

To put a poke on; as, to poke an ox.

To search; to feel one's way, as in the dark; to grope; as, to poke about.

Tall coarse perennial American herb having small white flowers followed by blackish-red berries on long drooping racemes; young fleshy stems are edible; berries and root are poisonous

A bag made of paper or plastic for holding customer's purchases

A sharp hand gesture (resembling a blow);

(boxing) a blow with the fist;

Poke or thrust abruptly;

Search or inquire in a meddlesome way;

Stir by poking;

Hit hard with the hand, fist, or some heavy instrument;

Make a hole by poking