experiment
Americannoun
-
a test, trial, or tentative procedure; an act or operation for the purpose of discovering something unknown or of testing a principle, supposition, etc..
a chemical experiment; a teaching experiment; an experiment in living.
-
the conducting of such operations; experimentation.
a product that is the result of long experiment.
- Synonyms:
- investigation, research
-
Obsolete. experience.
verb (used without object)
noun
-
a test or investigation, esp one planned to provide evidence for or against a hypothesis: a scientific experiment
-
the act of conducting such an investigation or test; experimentation; research
-
an attempt at something new or different; an effort to be original
a poetic experiment
-
an obsolete word for experience
verb
-
A test or procedure carried out under controlled conditions to determine the validity of a hypothesis or make a discovery.
-
See Note at hypothesis
Related Words
See trial.
Other Word Forms
- experimentator noun
- experimenter noun
- experimentor noun
- preexperiment noun
- proexperiment adjective
- reexperiment verb (used without object)
- unexperimented adjective
Etymology
Origin of experiment
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English: “proof,” from Latin experīmentum “test, trial,” from experī(rī) “to test, try” ( experience ) + -mentum -ment
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.
I had volunteered to stand there for 10 minutes; breathing in dirty air as part of an experiment to understand how air pollution is affecting our bodies and damaging our health.
From BBC
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1996 allows activities to assure the safety and reliability of nuclear weapons, including experiments involving fissile material, as long as they don’t result in a nuclear-explosive yield.
The schemes had been a way of "widening motorways on the cheap", King said, but that they were a "failed experiment" which were "not really working on any level".
From BBC
By selectively removing each group in a series of detailed experiments, the researchers uncovered clear differences in how these cells affect tumor growth.
From Science Daily
These experiments rely on lasers and optical components to form a periodic trap that forces particles into a repeating pattern, similar to how Jello takes shape inside an ice cube tray.
From Science Daily
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.
