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From: Adam Beneschan <adam@irvine.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Petascale computing
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:30:07 -0700 (PDT)
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Date: 2012-04-25T09:30:07-07:00
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On Wednesday, April 25, 2012 5:06:22 AM UTC-7, Stephen Leake wrote:
> Jerry writes:
>=20
> > incite |in=CB=88s=C4=ABt|
> > verb [ with obj. ]
> > encourage or stir up (violent or unlawful behavior).
> > =E2=80=A2 urge or persuade (someone) to act in a violent or unlawful wa=
y.
>=20
> What dictionary is that from?
>=20
> OED (http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/93523?redirectedFrom=3Dincite#eid)
>=20
> says:
>=20
>  a. trans. To urge or spur on; to stir up, animate, instigate, stimulate.=
 Const. to do something; to or unto some action.
>=20
>=20
> ie _any_ action, not just negative ones. None of the OED definitions
> give negative connotations.

In Merriam-Webster Online, none of the definitions say that the verb has ne=
gative connotations, but all of the examples do.  The same seems to hold ev=
erywhere else I've looked (e.g. Wiktionary).  So I suspect that, regardless=
 of the definition, in practice the word just isn't used except with negati=
ve connotations.  If someone can find an example from literature (preferabl=
y from the last couple centuries) where "incite" is used in a more positive=
 way, it might be helpful.

                    -- Adam
=20