The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Provoke \Pro*voke"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Provoked; p. pr. &
   vb. n. Provoking.] [F. provoquer, L. provocare to call
   forth; pro forth + vocare to call, fr. vox, vocis, voice,
   cry, call. See Voice.]
   To call forth; to call into being or action; esp., to incense
   to action, a faculty or passion, as love, hate, or ambition;
   hence, commonly, to incite, as a person, to action by a
   challenge, by taunts, or by defiance; to exasperate; to
   irritate; to offend intolerably; to cause to retaliate.
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         Obey his voice, provoke him not.         --Ex. xxiii.
                                                  21.
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         Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. --Eph.
                                                  vi. 4.
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         Such acts
         Of contumacy will provoke the Highest
         To make death in us live.                --Milton.
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         Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust? --Gray.
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         To the poet the meaning is what he pleases to make it,
         what it provokes in his own soul.        -- J.
                                                  Burroughs.
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   Syn: To irritate; arouse; stir up; awake; excite; incite;
        anger. See Irritate.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Provoking \Pro*vok"ing\, a.
   Having the power or quality of exciting resentment; tending
   to awaken passion or vexation; as, provoking words or
   treatment. -- Pro*vok"ing*ly, adv.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

provoking
    adj 1: causing or tending to cause anger or resentment; "a
           provoking delay at the airport" [syn: agitative,
           agitating, provoking]