Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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.

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.

         Obey his voice, provoke him not.         --Ex. xxiii.
                                                  21.

         Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. --Eph.
                                                  vi. 4.

         Such acts Of contumacy will provoke the Highest To make
         death in us live.                        --Milton.

         Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust? --Gray.

         To the poet the meaning is what he pleases to make it,
         what it provokes in his own soul.        -- J.
                                                  Burroughs.

   Syn: To irritate; arouse; stir up; awake; excite; incite;
        anger. See {Irritate}.

Source : WordNet®

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