"provocations" in the noun sense
1. aggravation, irritation, provocation
unfriendly behavior that causes anger or resentment
2. incitement, incitation, provocation
something that incites or provokes a means of arousing or stirring to action
3. provocation, incitement
needed encouragement
"the result was a provocation of vigorous investigation"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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