instigation
/ɪnstɪˈɡeɪʃ(ə)n
/noun [mass noun]
The action or process of instigating an action or event: the Domesday Survey was compiled at the instigation of William I...
- My investigations never indicated any evidence of extreme right-wing instigation or co-ordination of events that night.
- But he insists that it was at the woman's instigation, and said he was ‘stunned, disgusted and embarrassed’ by what she did.
- It criminalises open instigation of terrorism and terror threats, and sets out a definition of the term ‘organised crime’.
Synonyms
prompting, suggestion;
request, entreaty, solicitation;
wish, desire;
urging, importuning, pressure, persuasion;
demand, insistence
formal instance
initiation, incitement, provocation, stirring up, whipping up, kindling, fuelling, fomentation, encouragement, inducement;
actuation, devising, inception
Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense 'incitement'): from Old French, or from Latin instigatio(n-), from the verb instigare (see instigate).