I am not one of those women who shed tears on the smallest provocation: it is not in my temperament, I suppose.

The learned gentleman who weeps by the pint on the smallest provocation has not shed a tear these six weeks.

A woman that deep in a man's thrall could lash out in a jealous rage on the smallest provocation or none at all.

It would only need a small provocation to put a spark to the powder.

"Not that Carslake is liable to regard the twin assaults on pride and person as a small provocation."

We have all an inborn propensity to dislike one another, and a very small provocation will suddenly blow that banked-up furnace into a flame.

Why did he respond so dramatically to so small a provocation; The cheque could, after all, have been a reward for anything.

It would take only the smallest provocation.

A badlands building in such disrepair was prone to collapse on small provocation, and here the falling rock would be devastating.

My temper worsened, and I began flaring up at the smallest provocation.