It's Merriam-Webster's word of the day for May 13th. Today's word is today's word is instigate spelled I N S T I G A T E.

instigate is a verb to instigate something is to cause it to happen or begin.

Here's the word used in a sentence from the independent of London

by Mark Beaumont.

The image of John Paul, George, and Ringo

waving from the top steps of Pan Am Yankee Clipper Flight 101 at 120 PM on the 7th of February

1964 is among the most iconic in rock and roll history. That airplane steps photo was pivotal in instigating a

dynamic in rock music whereby boys played guitars to the wild adulation of girls a

misguided social norm that became so deeply embedded in the

music industry that were only now beginning to untangle it.

It's time to investigate the true meaning of the word instigate.

Instigate is often used as a synonym of the word in sight, I N C I T E, as in siblings instigating a fight but the two words differ slightly in their

overall usage in sight usually stresses an act of stirring something up that

one did not necessarily initiate, as in the court's decision

incited riots, while Instigate implies responsibility for initiating or encouraging someone else's action, and usually suggests dubious or underhanded

intent, as in he was charged with instigating a conspiracy.

Coming from a form of the Latin verb instigare meaning to urge on or provoke

instigate stepped into English in the 1500s roughly a century after the word

in sight.

With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.

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