How to Use instigate in a Sentence

instigate

verb

• There has been an increase in the amount of violence instigated by gangs.
• The government has instigated an investigation into the cause of the accident.
• In the midst of it all, one new brand is here to instigate change from its founding.
  — Brooke Bobb, Vogue, 9 July 2020
• Opponents will sure try to instigate, and the Huskies don’t need the wrong kind of fight right now.
  — Dom Amore, courant.com, 11 Jan. 2018
• Ishida believed the dog may have tried to instigate a fight with the cat, which fought back.
  — Nicole Blanchard, idahostatesman, 21 May 2018
• The boy did not instigate the fight, his mother says, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
  — Kc Baker, PEOPLE.com, 3 Oct. 2019
• After all, those customers may perhaps be the party that can instigate the most change in the end.
  — Yael Grauer, Ars Technica, 9 Feb. 2020
• The LaBianca killings were part of Manson’s plan to instigate a race war.
  — Christine Pelisek, PEOPLE.com, 26 July 2019
• Agent is the platform designed to instigate that change.
  — Katherine Beard, Teen Vogue, 6 Apr. 2018
• Buck hoped to instigate an uprising to force white settlers off the land and return it to the Creeks and Cherokees.
  — Los Angeles Times, 4 Nov. 2021
• And the way to defeat fringe elements who instigate and launch primaries is to fight them.
  — Charlie Dent, CNN, 1 May 2022
• The Ravens contend that Beckham instigated the fight, and that Humphrey didn’t place his hands on Beckham’s throat.
  — Mary Kay Cabot, cleveland, 1 Oct. 2019
• This premise instigates the action in No Hard Feelings.
  — Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 June 2023
• The data also tracks when these changes happened and who may have helped instigate them.
  — Kathy Stephenson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 29 Sep. 2020
• Riyadh and Abu Dhabi even threatened to instigate a coup, forcing Qatar to build a new alliance with Turkey.
  — Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Jan. 2021
• The victim, 31-year-old Bradley Arabie, instigated the fight, court records say, but was dwarfed by Sendejo’s size.
  — Rob Kuznia, CNN, 21 Mar. 2023
• Von then explains that drinking instigates the desire to do coke.
  — Brady Brickner-Wood, The New Yorker, 10 Oct. 2024
• Two youths said the attack was instigated by a staff member.
  — miamiherald, 31 Jan. 2018
• Penn State police last week asked people to avoid the event, saying the speakers would attempt to instigate protests.
  — Alyssa Lukpat, WSJ, 25 Oct. 2022
• Corbin said an angry man arrived at the party and instigated a fight, and Cole died when trying to grab that man’s weapon.
  — Jesse Newell, kansascity, 19 Dec. 2017
• The challenge is to instigate a party but make sure that people are invited to the party.
  — Vulture, 26 Apr. 2022
• Batshuayi instigated the move with a good pass for Schuerrle.
  — USA TODAY, 10 Feb. 2018
• The plan is to blame it on another cartel and so instigate a war between the two, disrupting the network.
  — Peter Keough, BostonGlobe.com, 28 June 2018
• But Brooks — who instigated things with James last spring in the playoffs as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies — wasn’t going to back down.
  — Austin Knoblauch, Los Angeles Times, 20 Nov. 2023
• Immediately after the terry tribute, a male fan instigates a tug-of-war for the rag, pulling the woman to the ground.
  — Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 15 Aug. 2023
• Some of these bans have been instigated by a single parental complaint.
  — Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani, The New Republic, 21 Sep. 2023
• Often, the interns instigate the best conversations, and the most laughs.
  — Thomas Koetting, Journal Sentinel, 19 June 2024
• At the same time stress can instigate bad behaviors such as smoking and drinking.
  — Tom Siegfried, Discover Magazine, 18 Sep. 2018
• When Joker came out in 2019, it was greeted with a firestorm of controversy about its potential to instigate violence that verged on a moral panic.
  — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 4 Oct. 2024
• In November 1963, President Kennedy was shot and killed during a motorcade in Dallas, and the shocking moment instigated a period of mourning across the nation.
  — Thomas Smith, Billboard, 29 Nov. 2024

Last Updated: 2 Jan 2025