Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

Provo

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Remove ads
See also: provo and provò

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Dutch Provo, shortened from provoceren (“to provoke”), from French provoquer.

Proper noun

Provo

  1. (now historical) A Dutch counterculture movement of the 1960s.

Noun

Provo (plural Provos)

  2. (now historical) A member of this movement.
    • 2017, Richard Ivan Jobs, Backpack Ambassadors: How Youth Travel Integrated Europe, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 104:
      Still, Daniel Cohn-Bendit has commented that without the example provided by the Dutch Provos to the young of other countries, Europe would have been a very different place in 1968.
    • 2023, Dorian Lynskey, “Bicycle Sharers of the World Unite!”, in Literary Review, number 524, page 17:
      ‘Dude, we want to make a revolution!’ protested one German Provo.
Alternative forms

Further reading

Etymology 2

Clipping of provisional + -o.

Noun

Provo (plural Provos)

  1. (informal, often in the plural) A member of the Provisional IRA.
    The RUC broke up a Provo cell in Belfast.
    • 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 210:
      'The Provos bombing a Glasgow pub?' McCormack shook his head.
    • 2023 June 7, Cillian Sherlock, “O’Neill says Finucane will attend controversial IRA commemoration”, in Belfast Telegraph‎, →ISSN, archived from the original on 8 October 2025:
      Marcus Babington, whose father Henry (52) was shot dead by the Provos in a case of mistaken identity in Belfast in 1989, was one of those who criticised Mr Finucane, telling the Belfast Telegraph he can’t understand why the MP would want to be involved in such a commemoration.

Etymology 3

Proper noun

Provo

  1. A city, the county seat of Utah County, Utah, United States.
    • 2022 September 7, Nicole Chavez, Amanda Musa, “People dressed in angel wings shielded LGBTQ students attending BYU from protesters”, in CNN‎, archived from the original on 9 September 2022:
      When LGBTQ students, alumni and friends gathered off campus at a park in Provo, Utah, for a back-to-school event last weekend, they were met by dozens of protesters.
    • 2025 September 26, Ximena Bustillo, “Fired feds, Trump lovers and veterans: Meet the people applying for ICE jobs”, in NPR‎, archived from the original on 23 October 2025:
      NPR spoke with more than 30 people at the DHS career expo held in Provo last week.
  2. An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fall River County, South Dakota.
Derived terms
Translations

References

Further reading

Etymology 4

 Provo (surname) on Wikipedia

Proper noun

Provo

  1. A surname
    • 1899, William Nelson, Documents Relating to the Colonial, Revolutionary and Post-Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey, page 547:
      Certificate of Ilypolite Lefever and wife Mary, that they have agreed to sell and convey to George Provo, late of the Parish of St. Martins in the Feilds, Co. of Middlesex, England, now of New Salem, cordwinder, their dividend […]
    • 2006, Canada. Parliament. Senate, Debates of the Senate: Official Report (Hansard):
      Minister MacKay said during the Nova Scotia election campaign that Tory candidate Dwayne Provo was in the best position to help his constituents receive money from ACAO.
    • 2013, W. Thomas Porter, Go Huskies!: Celebrating the Washington Football Tradition, Triumph Books (IL), →ISBN, page 53:
      Fred Provo received the Flaherty Award as the football team's most inspirational player. He was also their leading rusher. Husky fans knew him as a hard driver with the speed of a gazelle.

Anagrams

Remove ads

Dutch

Etymology

Clipping of provoceren (“to provoke”) (or provocatie (“provocation”)), derived from French provoquer.

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Provo c

  1. a Dutch counterculture movement of the 1960s

Further reading

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads
Remove ads