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perturb

verb
/pəˈtɜːb/UK/pəɹˈtɜɹb/US

Etymology

From Late Middle English perturben (“to disturb (someone) mentally, disquiet; to cause disorder to (something), confuse; to hinder (something)”), 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”) (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)).

  1. derived from *(s)twerH-✻ — “to agitate, stir up; to urge on, propel”
  2. derived from τῠ́ρβη — “confusion, disorder, tumult”
  3. derived from perturbāre
  4. derived from perturber
  5. inherited from perturben — “to disturb (someone) mentally, disquiet; to cause disorder to (something), confuse; to hinder (something)”

Definitions

  1. To cause (something) to be physically disordered or disturbed

    To cause (something) to be physically disordered or disturbed; to cause confusion.

    • Mary therefore the more knaue art thou I ſay / That perturbeſt the worde of god I ſay […]
    • 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: […]

  2. To disturb (someone, their mind, etc.) mentally

    To disturb (someone, their mind, etc.) mentally; to bother, trouble, upset.

    • […] I have often found / The truth thereof, in my private paſſions: / For I doe never feele my ſelfe perturb'd / VVith any generall vvords 'gainſt my profeſſion, / They doe avvake, and ſtirre me: […]
    • He remembered how, […] his childish imagination was perturbed at a phenomenon, for which he could not account.
    • [I]t is very easy to abstain from this sin [the desire of money]. For here it is not any natural desire that perturbeth the mind, but it ariseth from wilful negligence.

  3. Of a celestial body

    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. ›+ 3 more definitions

    1. To slightly modify (a set of equations or their solutions), producing deviations from a…

      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.

    2. To influence (a process or system) so that it deviates from its normal state.

    3. To bother, to disturb, to trouble.

      • Thy ghoſt O father ſweete, thy greuous ghoſt, / Perturbing in my dremes hath me compeld to ſee this coaſt.
      • This growth original of virgin soil, / By fascination felt in opposites, / Pleases and shocks, entices and perturbs.

The neighborhood

Derived

deperturb, perturbability, perturbable, perturbagen, perturbed, perturbedly, perturber, perturbing, perturbment, reperturb, unperturbed

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for perturb. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA