- incite
- incite, instigate, abet, foment are comparable when they mean to spur on to action or to excite into activity.Incite stresses stirring up and urging on; frequently it implies active prompting{
the riot was incited by paid agitators
}{it was just like Lady Pinkerton ... to have gone round to Hobart inciting him to drag Jane from my office— Rose Macaulay
}Instigate, in contrast with incite, unequivocally implies prompting and responsibility for the initiation of the action; it also commonly connotes underhand- edness and evil intention; thus, one may be incited but not instigated to the performance of a good act; one may be incited or instigated to the commission of a crime{the early persecutions were . . . instigated ... by the government as a safety valve for popular discontent— Inge
}{his peculiar tastes had instigated him to boldness in some directions— Edmund Wilson
}Abet tends to lose its original implication of baiting or hounding on and to emphasize its acquired implications of seconding, supporting, and encouraging{unthinkingly, I have laid myself open to the charge of aiding and abetting the seal cutter in obtaining money under false pretenses— Kipling
}{Mr. Howells . . . seconded him as often as not in these innocuous, infantile ventures, abetting him in the production of . . . plays of an abysmal foolishness— Brooks
}Foment stresses persistence in goading; thus, one who incites rebellion may provide only the initial stimulus; one who foments rebellion keeps the rebellious spirit alive by supplying fresh incitements{the apparent moral certainties of the mid-thirties —such as the notion that wars are fomented by munitions makers— F. L. Allen
}Antonyms: restrain
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
