"provoke admiration" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
You can use it when you want to express that someone or something has inspired admiration in someone else. For example, "His incredible bravery on the battlefield provoked admiration from even his harshest critics."
His wealth provokes admiration rather than jealousy.
Like the Ronstadt songs, they provoked admiration, wistfulness, a bit of melancholy.
He provoked admiration and astonishment; also suspicion, envy and self-reproach.
What seemed designed to shock is a work of art that has provoked admiration and above all astonishment at its beauty and originality.
Like a cross between some pesky quiz kid and the sly inspector in "Crime and Punishment," he's always concealing some devastating small point which he ventures at the last moment, provoking admiration or consternation from the specialists.
It is astonishing to think they have dropped eight points by the season's halfway point, and played in a fashion which has provoked admiration rather than envy from most onlookers.
His outspoken, maverick persona has more than a touch of the John McCain about it: a right-wing populist that can spring the odd surprise, indulge in some political madness and provoke grudging admiration all at the same time.
Her play was not for her cousins, it was for her brother, to celebrate his return, provoke his admiration and guide him away from his carless succession of girlfriends, towards the right form of wife, the one who would persuade him to return to the countryside, the one who would sweetly request Briony's services as a bridesmaid.
These questions are exactly why 28-year-old Dunham and Girls provoke such admiration and resentment, Twitter traffic and digital diatribes, imitators and parodies.
Perhaps this book provokes my profound admiration and affinity because of where I was in my own life when it was so meaningfully pressed into my hand.
