Library / English Dictionary

PERTURB

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Throw into great confusion or disorder

Example:

Fundamentalists threaten to perturb the social order

Synonyms:

derange; perturb; throw out of kilter

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "perturb" is one way to...):

disarray; disorder (bring disorder to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

perturbation (the act of causing disorder)

perturbation (a disposition that is confused or nervous and upset)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Disturb in mind or make uneasy or cause to be worried or alarmed

Example:

She was rather perturbed by the news that her father was seriously ill

Synonyms:

cark; disorder; disquiet; distract; perturb; trouble; unhinge

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "perturb" is one way to...):

disturb; trouble; upset (move deeply)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "perturb"):

vex; worry (disturb the peace of mind of; afflict with mental agitation or distress)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The bad news will perturb him

Derivation:

perturbation (a disposition that is confused or nervous and upset)

perturbation (an unhappy and worried mental state)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cause a celestial body to deviate from a theoretically regular orbital motion, especially as a result of interposed or extraordinary gravitational pull

Example:

The orbits of these stars were perturbed by the passings of a comet

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "perturb" is one way to...):

deviate (cause to turn away from a previous or expected course)

Verb group:

perturb (disturb or interfere with the usual path of an electron or atom)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

perturbation ((physics) a secondary influence on a system that causes it to deviate slightly)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Disturb or interfere with the usual path of an electron or atom

Example:

The electrons were perturbed by the passing ion

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "perturb" is one way to...):

deviate (cause to turn away from a previous or expected course)

Verb group:

perturb (cause a celestial body to deviate from a theoretically regular orbital motion, especially as a result of interposed or extraordinary gravitational pull)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

perturbation (the act of causing disorder)

perturbation ((physics) a secondary influence on a system that causes it to deviate slightly)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The bright clouds form when the flow of ambient air is perturbed and diverted upward over the dark vortex, causing gases to freeze into methane ice crystals.

(Hubble Reveals Dynamic Atmospheres of Uranus, Neptune, NASA)

If the planet got them later in life, the rings could have formed when small, icy moons in orbit around Saturn collided, perhaps because their orbits were perturbed by a gravitational tug from a passing asteroid or comet.

(Saturn is Losing Its Rings, NASA)

His face was burned of a reddish colour, as bright as a flower-pot, and in spite of his age (for he was only forty at the time of which I speak) it was shot with lines, which deepened if he were in any way perturbed, so that I have seen him turn on the instant from a youngish man to an elderly.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In this perturbed state of mind, with thoughts that could rest on nothing, she walked on; but it would not do; in half a minute the letter was unfolded again, and collecting herself as well as she could, she again began the mortifying perusal of all that related to Wickham, and commanded herself so far as to examine the meaning of every sentence.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The periodically repeated leucine side chains extending from one alpha helix interdigitate with leucine residues of another alpha helix, facilitating coiled-coil dimerization; like charge repulsion in this region perturbs homodimer formation; heterodimers are promoted by opposing charge attractions. c-MYC transcription factor binds to CAC(GA)TG DNA sites.

(MYC Family Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

Often, of an evening, when he sat at the window, his desk and papers before him, he would cease reading or writing, rest his chin on his hand, and deliver himself up to I know not what course of thought; but that it was perturbed and exciting might be seen in the frequent flash and changeful dilation of his eye.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“I—I confess I hardly do understand,” she hesitated, a perturbed but not frightened expression in her eyes.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

As Ruth's front door closed behind them and he came down the steps with her, he found himself greatly perturbed.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Talking wearied her, faces troubled her, pain claimed her for its own, and her tranquil spirit was sorrowfully perturbed by the ills that vexed her feeble flesh.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)