makebate means one who excites contentions and quarrels; an instigator.
Why “makebate” is a great word
A person who excites contentions and quarrels; an instigator of discord. From the verb make (in the sense 'to cause to be') fused with the obsolete noun bate, meaning 'strife' or 'contention'—one who literally manufactures hostility. Unlike a mediator, who labors to reconcile, or a troublemaker, whose mischief is broad and common, a makebate is a specialist in seeded rancor. It is the dinner guest who resurrects a decades-old family grievance over the soup; the colleague who whispers to each side that the other has spoken ill of them; the stranger who sharpens a political disagreement with selective quotation. There is a deliberate architecture to this animosity—the makebate does not stumble into conflict but builds it, beam by beam, from the raw material of human vanity and susceptibility.
Etymology
From make + bate (“strife, contention, quarrel”).
noun
- One who excites contentions and quarrels; an instigator.
- A plant, bush jasmine (Chrysojasminum fruticans, syn. Jasminum fruticans).
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