perturb - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Late Middle English perturben (“to disturb (someone) mentally, disquiet; to cause disorder to (something), confuse; to hinder (something)”),[1] from Old French perturber, and from its etymon Latin perturbāre, the present active infinitive of perturbō (“to confuse; to alarm, disturb, trouble, perturb”), from per- (intensifying prefix) + turbō (“to agitate, disturb, unsettle, perturb; to upset”)[2] (from turba (“disorder, disturbance, turmoil”) (possibly from Ancient Greek τῠ́ρβη (tŭ́rbē, “confusion, disorder, tumult”), either from Pre-Greek, or Proto-Indo-European *(s)twerH- (“to agitate, stir up; to urge on, propel”)) + -ō (suffix forming infinitives of regular first-conjugation verbs)).

perturb (third-person singular simple present perturbs, present participle perturbing, simple past and past participle perturbed)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To cause (something) to be physically disordered or disturbed; to cause confusion.
      Synonyms: derange, disturb, unsettle; see also Thesaurus:confuse
      • a. 1521 (date written), [John Heywood], A Mery Play betwene the Pardoner and the Frere, the Curate and Neybour Pratte, London: […] Wyllyam Rastell, published 15 April 1533 (Gregorian calendar), →OCLC, signature B.i., recto:
        Mary therefore the more knaue art thou I ſay / That perturbeſt the worde of god I ſay […]
      • 1569, Richard Grafton, “Henry the Seconde”, in A Chronicle at Large and Meere History of the Affayres of Englande […], volume II, London: […] Henry Denham, […], for Richarde Tottle and Humffrey Toye, →OCLC, page 69:
        The Nobles ſtandyng by hearyng him thus ſpeake were greatly agreeued with him, notyng in him arrogancy and wilfulneſſe, in perturbyng and refuſyng ſuch an honeſt order of agreement: […]
      • 1646, Thomas Browne, “Concerning the Vulgar Opinion that the Earth was Slenderly Peopled before the Floud”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 6th book, page 295:
        [T]he grounds and firſt inventions of Poeticall fables, […] vvere alſo taken up by hiſtoricall VVriters, perturbing the Chaldean and Ægyptian Records vvith fabulous additions, and confounding their names and ſtories, vvith their ovvne inventions.
      • 1730, Thomas Fuller, “Of Continual Fevers, Caused by Matter Taken into the Blood ab extra”, in Exanthematologia: Or, An Attempt to Give a Rational Account of Eruptive Fevers, Especially of the Measles and Small Pox. […], London: […] Charles Rivington, and Stephen Austen, […], →OCLC, pages 114–115:
        If it [benign matter] be as yet ſeated in the Lymph, and ſcarce got in among the Globules, it vvill notvvithſtanding provoke, and perturb the vital Spirits, and ſo exagitate them as to ſtir up an Efferveſcence, vvhich ceaſeth again as ſoon as the Matter can be concocted and throvvn out by inſenſible Tranſpiration, Svveat, Urine, Stools, &c.
      • 1881, Abū Muẖammad bin Yusuf bin Mu,ayyid-i-Niz̤āmu-’d-Dīn [_i.e._, Nizami Ganjavi], “Canto XXVIII. Sikandar’s Written Reply to Dara.”, in H[enry] Wilberforce Clarke, transl., The Sikandar Nāma,e Barȧ, or Book of Alexander the Great, […], London: W[illiam] H[oughton] Allen & Co., […], →OCLC, page 313, line 67:
        [T]hou perturbest my place; / Takest from me the country of my forefathers; […]
    2. To disturb (someone, their mind, etc.) mentally; to bother, trouble, upset.
      Synonyms: agitate, distress, unsettle; see also Thesaurus:upset
      Antonyms: see Thesaurus:comfort
    3. (astronomy) Of a celestial body: to modify the motion or orbit of (another celestial body) by exerting a gravitational force; hence (physics), to slightly modify (the motion of an object).
    4. (mathematics) To slightly modify (a set of equations or their solutions), producing deviations from a simple, easily solvable problem, in order to find an approximate solution to a problem that is more difficult to solve or otherwise unsolvable.
    5. (sciences) To influence (a process or system) so that it deviates from its normal state.
  2. (intransitive) To bother, to disturb, to trouble.
    Synonym: agitate

(transitive) to disturb (someone, their mind, etc.) mentally; (intransitive) to bother, disturb, trouble — see bother,‎ disturb,‎ trouble

(transitive) of a celestial body: to modify the motion or orbit of (another celestial body) by exerting a gravitational force; to slightly modify (the motion of an object)

(transitive) to slightly modify (a set of equations or their solutions), producing deviations from a simple, easily solvable problem

(transitive) to influence (a process or system) so that it deviates from its normal state

  1. ^ “perturben, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ Compare “perturb, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2025; “perturb, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

perturb

  1. first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of perturba