perturb

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perturb

/pəˈtɜːb/ UK
/pəɹˈtɜɹb/ US

Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)b

Where it comes from

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)).

verb perturbs · perturbing · perturbed · perturb

transitive 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 […]
transitive 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: […]
transitive 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).
transitive 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.
transitive To influence (a process or system) so that it deviates from its normal state.
intransitive 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.

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