What is the definition of provocation​

action or speech that makes someone annoyed or angry, especially deliberately: you should remain calm and not respond to provocation | he burst into tears at the slightest provocation.

• Law action or speech held to be likely to prompt physical retaliation: the assault had taken place under provocation

d) the narrator even suggested that the white whale, moby d, was ubiquitous and present in every ocean at every moment.