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What is "perturb"

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perturb
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Perturb

Perturb \Per*turb"\, v. t. [L. perturbare, perturbatum; per + turbare to disturb, fr. turba a disorder: cf. OF. perturber. See Per-, and Turbid.]

  1. To disturb; to agitate; to vex; to trouble; to disquiet.

    Ye that . . . perturb so my feast with crying.
    --Chaucer.

  2. To disorder; to confuse. [R.]
    --Sir T. Browne.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
perturb

late 14c., from Old French perturber "disturb, confuse" (14c.) and directly from Latin perturbare "to confuse, disorder, disturb," especially of states of the mind, from per- "through" (see per) + turbare "disturb, confuse," from turba "turmoil, crowd" (see turbid). Related: Perturbed; perturbing.

Wiktionary
perturb

vb. 1 To disturb; to bother or unsettle. 2 (context physics English) To slightly modify the motion of an object. 3 (context astronomy English) To modify the motion of a body by exerting a gravitational force. 4 (context mathematics English) To modify slightly, such as an equation or value.

WordNet
perturb

  1. v. disturb in mind or make uneasy or cause to be worried or alarmed; "She was rather perturbed by the news that her father was seriously ill" [syn: unhinge, disquiet, trouble, cark, distract, disorder]

  2. disturb or interfere with the usual path of an electron or atom; "The electrons were perturbed by the passing ion"

  3. cause a celestial body to deviate from a theoretically regular orbital motion, especially as a result of interposed or extraordinary gravitational pull; "The orbits of these stars were perturbed by the passings of a comet"

  4. throw into great confusion or disorder; "Fundamental Islamicists threaten to perturb the social order in Algeria and Egypt" [syn: derange, throw out of kilter]

Usage examples of "perturb".

We will know which gene we have to perturb with what, or which sequences of genes we have to perturb in what temporal order, to guide the differentiation of a cancer cell to nonmalignant behavior or to apoptosis, or to guide the regeneration of some tissue.

Lear is battling the storm, kindly Gloucester, within the haven of his castle, is perturbed.

The danger is that it invokes only spirits of time, and such monoclinal adjurations risk perturbing the diametric complement, which in the case of time is chance, thus hazarding aberrant and unpredictable eventualities.

Psychological stress perturbs epidermal permeability barrier homeostasis: Implications for the pathogenesis of stress-associated skin disorders.

It is not we only, you and I, who look into the still waters of the wilderness and lonely places, and are often dimly perplext, are often troubled we know not how or why: some forgotten reminiscence in us is aroused, some memory, not our own, but yet our heritage is perturbed, footsteps that have immemorially sunk in ancient dusk move furtively along obscure corridors in our brain, the ancestral hunter or fisher awakes, the primitive hillman or woodlander communicates again with old forgotten intimacies and the secret oracular things of lost wisdoms.

The thought of sleighing cheered him for a moment, until, now on the outskirts of the village, he was sanitarily perturbed by the adjacency of dwelling houses and barns.

After a perturbed Pansy Stalder left the office, Lucille pushed the button on the intercom.

The instantaneous transfer of information involves, among other things, supercooling the antenna, necessary to perturb the local gravity-field configuration.

Here he observed that sight which at the same moment was perturbing Lamancha on the Beallach looking over to Crask.

A samurai was at the head of the gangway, very perturbed, and two other samurai were beside him, bows ready.

All these representations of death, however beautiful, or pathetic, or horrible, are based on superficial appearances, misleading analogies, arbitrary fancies, perturbed sensibilities, not on a firm hold of realities, insight of truth, and philosophical analysis.

There seemed to be a change in the old man--an added element of furtiveness in the clouded brain which subtly transformed him from an object to a subject of fear--though he was not one to be perturbed by any common family event.

He was perturbed by the cocoon, imagining all manner of gigantic moths or butterflies emerging.

We will know which gene we have to perturb with what, or which sequences of genes we have to perturb in what temporal order, to guide the differentiation of a cancer cell to nonmalignant behavior or to apoptosis, or to guide the regeneration of some tissue.

Even Rosinante seemed perturbed by the stillness and solitude of this wild garden.