1. A person who is employed to encourage people to break the law so they can be arrested and prosecuted: The government used agents provocateurs to try to undermine the opposition party so they would lose the election.
2. A secret agent implanted in an organization; such as, a trade union or political party, to incite its members to actions or declarations that will result in penalties or punishment for them: In the story that Jim was reading, the secret service decided to ask a young woman to be an agent provocateur in order to provoke a suspected person to perform an illegal deed which would then result in his conviction.