Meanings
present singular third person incites · participle present inciting · participle past incited · past incited
- transitiveTo call into action.
incite people to violence
4 more examples
The judge was told by the accused that his friends had incited him to commit the crime.
Human rights groups blame the anti-Rohingya propaganda for inciting murders, rapes and the largest forced human migration in recent history.
2018 October 15, Paul Mozur, “A Genocide Incited on Facebook, With Posts From Myanmar’s Military”, in The New York TimesWho and what exactly incited Amir?
2019 April 12, Roger Cohen, “The Incitement in Israel That Killed Yitzhak Rabin”, in The New York TimesPresident Trump has seized on the response in the streets to police brutality against Black men and women to bolster his re-election campaign, employing provocative and sometimes incendiary language and images to incite his followers, demonize his opponents or both.
2020 January 9, Peter Baker, “Trump has a long history of language that incites and demonizes.”, in The New York Times - transitiveTo entreat an act.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbgive an incentive for action
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinincitō“to set in motion, hasten, urge, incite”
- Middle Frenchinciter
- Englishincite
From Middle French inciter, from Latin incitō (“to set in motion, hasten, urge, incite”), from in (“in, on”) + citō (“to set in motion, urge”), frequentative of cieō (“to rouse, excite, call”).
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἐρεθίζω, ὄρνυμι
- ἐρεθίζω (erethízō)to rouse, stir up or excite
- ὄρνυμι (órnumi)to rouse, stir up or excite
Arabic حَرَّضَ, حَضَّ
- حَرَّضَ (ḥarraḍa)to rouse, stir up or excite
- حَضَّ (ḥaḍḍa)to rouse, stir up or excite
Bulgarian подбуждам, стимулирам
- подбуждам (podbuždam)to rouse, stir up or excite
- стимулирам (stimuliram)to rouse, stir up or excite
Catalan incitar
- incitarto rouse, stir up or excite
Chinese Mandarin 煽起
- 煽起 (shānqǐ)to rouse, stir up or excite
Czech podněcovat, navádět
- podněcovatto rouse, stir up or excite
- navádětto rouse, stir up or excite
- nabádatto rouse, stir up or excite
Dutch aanzetten, ophitsen
- aanzettento rouse, stir up or excite
- ophitsento rouse, stir up or excite
Esperanto inciti
- incitito rouse, stir up or excite
Finnish yllyttää, kiihottaa
- yllyttääto rouse, stir up or excite
- kiihottaato rouse, stir up or excite
- kannustaato rouse, stir up or excite
French inciter
- inciterto rouse, stir up or excite
German anstacheln
- anstachelnto rouse, stir up or excite
Hebrew שלהב, שיסה
- שלהב (shilhév)to rouse, stir up or excite
- שיסה (shisá)to rouse, stir up or excite
Hindi भड़काना, उकसाना
- भड़काना (bhaṛkānā)to rouse, stir up or excite
- उकसाना (uksānā)to rouse, stir up or excite
Hungarian felbujt, uszít
- felbujtto rouse, stir up or excite
- uszítto rouse, stir up or excite
- ösztönözto rouse, stir up or excite
- buzdítto rouse, stir up or excite
Irish spreag, fadaigh
- spreagto rouse, stir up or excite
- fadaighto rouse, stir up or excite
- dreasaighto rouse, stir up or excite
Japanese 扇ぐ, 嗾ける
- 扇ぐ (aogu)to rouse, stir up or excite
- 嗾ける (keshikakeru)to rouse, stir up or excite
Latin incitō
- incitōto rouse, stir up or excite
Māori whakakā, akiaki
- whakakāto rouse, stir up or excite
- akiakito rouse, stir up or excite
- ueueto rouse, stir up or excite
- whakatarito rouse, stir up or excite
- whakakoikoito rouse, stir up or excite
Persian انگیزاندن, شوراندن
- انگیزاندن (angizândan)to rouse, stir up or excite
- شوراندن (šurândan)to rouse, stir up or excite
Polish podżegać, podżegnąć
- podżegaćto rouse, stir up or excite
- podżegnąćto rouse, stir up or excite
- wichrzyćto rouse, stir up or excite
- zwichrzyćto rouse, stir up or excite
Portuguese incitar, provocar
- incitarto rouse, stir up or excite
- provocarto rouse, stir up or excite
Romanian incita, ațâța
- incitato rouse, stir up or excite
- ațâțato rouse, stir up or excite
- stârnito rouse, stir up or excite
Russian подстрека́ть, подбива́ть
- подстрека́ть (podstrekátʹ)to rouse, stir up or excite
- подбива́ть (podbivátʹ)to rouse, stir up or excite
- разжига́ть (razžigátʹ)to rouse, stir up or excite
Spanish incitar, concitar
- incitarto rouse, stir up or excite
- concitarto rouse, stir up or excite
Tagalog sulsol
- sulsolto rouse, stir up or excite
Thai ปลุกระดม, ปลุก
- ปลุกระดมto rouse, stir up or excite
- ปลุก (bplùk)to rouse, stir up or excite
- ยุยง (yú-yong)to rouse, stir up or excite
- ยั่วยุto rouse, stir up or excite
Turkish kışkırtmak
- kışkırtmakto rouse, stir up or excite
Ukrainian підбу́рювати, підбу́рити
- підбу́рювати (pidbúrjuvaty)to rouse, stir up or excite
- підбу́рити (pidbúryty)to rouse, stir up or excite
Urdu بھڑَکانا, اکسانا
- بھڑَکانا (bhaṛkānā)to rouse, stir up or excite
- اکسانا (uksānā)to rouse, stir up or excite
Vietnamese kích động
- kích độngto rouse, stir up or excite
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with incite
Sounds the same
Cite this entry
incite. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incite
“incite.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incite. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “incite,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incite.
Source: incite on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.