Meaning & use
incite
Last updated
Meanings
verbtransitive
To encourage or urge people to act, especially to do something violent, hateful or unlawful.
Grammar: Takes an object: incite a riot, or incite someone to violence.
Patterns
- incite someone to something
- incite something
The speaker was arrested for inciting a crowd to attack the building.
Her post was accused of inciting hatred against immigrants.
Rumors of a price rise helped incite the protests.
verbtransitive
To cause a strong feeling or reaction to start in someone.
Grammar: Less common than the first sense, and it usually goes with strong emotions like anger.
Patterns
- incite anger in someone
The unfair ruling incited anger among the players.
The advertisement was meant to incite curiosity, not fear.
Word forms
| third person singular | incites |
|---|---|
| past tense | incited |
| past participle | incited |
| -ing form | inciting |
Common combinations
- incite violence
- The group was accused of inciting violence.
- incite a riot
- He was charged with trying to incite a riot.
- incite hatred
- The law forbids speech that incites hatred.
- incite someone to action
- The pamphlet incited workers to action.
- incite unrest
- Shortages incited unrest in several cities.
Synonyms and how they differ
- provoke
- Provoke can mean to cause a reaction in one person, while incite usually involves urging many people toward action.
- stir up
- Stir up is more informal and can describe starting trouble or feelings of any size.
- instigate
- Instigate stresses starting something harmful, often behind the scenes, while incite stresses urging others on.
- foment
- Foment is a formal word for actively cultivating trouble over a period of time.
Opposites
Word family
- incitement noun
- the act of urging people to do wrong
- inciter noun
- a person who urges others to act
- inciting adjective
- causing people to act, as in an inciting incident
Commonly confused: incite or insight? incite or invite?
incite vs insight
Insight is a deep understanding and sounds the same as incite in fast speech, but it is a noun.
incite vs invite
Invite means to ask someone to come or take part, while incite means to urge someone toward action, usually harmful.
Practice
The mayor warned that the leaflet could ___ the crowd to violence.
Choose one answer.
Incite someone to violence is the standard pattern. Insight is a noun, invite means to ask someone to come, and inspect means to examine.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “incite”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.