perturb
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to disturb or disquiet greatly in mind; agitate.
I can see how such a massive change in your routine would perturb you.
- Antonyms:
- pacify
-
to throw into great disorder.
Huge construction projects can take years to finish, and meanwhile, can greatly perturb the neighborhood.
- Synonyms:
- muddle, disarrange, confuse
-
Astronomy. to cause perturbation in the orbit of (a celestial body).
verb
-
to disturb the composure of; trouble
-
to throw into disorder
-
physics astronomy to cause (a planet, electron, etc) to undergo a perturbation
Other Word Forms
- nonperturbable adjective
- nonperturbing adjective
- perturbability noun
- perturbable adjective
- perturbably adverb
- perturbatious adjective
- perturbator noun
- perturber noun
- perturbing adjective
- perturbingly adverb
- perturbment noun
- unperturbable adjective
- unperturbing adjective
Etymology
Origin of perturb
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English perturben (from Old French perturber ), from Latin perturbāre “to throw into confusion,” from per- per- + turbāre “to agitate, confuse” ( turbid )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Loznitsa includes multiple terse scenes of Kornev walking up endless stairs or waiting for a perturbed guard to unlock a door that will lead him to another door that also requires a key.
From Los Angeles Times
“Undertone” pulls off this same trick nicely, with pockets of the mysterious audio files sounding genuinely perturbing, causing the audience to expect more scares as Evy and Justin work through all 10 of them.
From Salon
“I am somewhat perturbed. Are we not friends? Why did you not simply ask me to join you at the river?”
From Literature
Some possible treatments have looked to block the origin of the itch to relieve the sensation, Gualdani said, “but it seems if we perturb this pathway, we also perturb eventual itch relief.”
So my advice to people during these times is just do your job and show they were wrong and act like you’re unperturbed by it even though you are perturbed by it.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
