Agent Provocateur (Noun)
Meaning
A secret agent who incites suspected persons to commit illegal acts.
Classification
Nouns denoting people.
Examples
- The police department was accused of using an agent provocateur to infiltrate and manipulate the activist group, leading to several wrongful arrests.
- As an undercover agent, his role was to pose as a buyer and gather evidence, but he was also suspected of being an agent provocateur, encouraging the suspects to commit crimes they might not have otherwise.
- The whistleblower claimed that the government had employed an agent provocateur to discredit the opposition party by inciting its members to engage in violent protests.
- The journalist's investigation revealed that the informant was actually an agent provocateur, working for the authorities to entrap and convict the alleged terrorists.
- The defense attorney argued that the prosecution's key witness was an agent provocateur, who had manipulated the defendant into committing the crime, and therefore the evidence should be dismissed.