provocatively

provocatively

English

Etymology

    From provocative + -ly.

    Pronunciation

    • Audio (Southern England):(file)

    Adverb

    provocatively (comparative more provocatively, superlative most provocatively)

    1. In a provocative manner.
      • 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 75:
        The two tables Peter approved of highly when they arrived next day and when Rita said provocatively to Peter's vanity, "Don't tell me you'll really be able to repeat that pattern as finely," Peter replied boastfully, "I'll do as good a job as the original, if not better."
      • 2007 May 20, Joanna Kavenna, “While You Were Out”, in The New York Times[1], archived from the original on 12 February 2020:
        Scottie, a precocious 10-year old,[sic] wears provocatively sloganed T-shirts and harasses her peers by text message.

    Translations