experiment
Americannoun
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experiments
plural
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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.
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the conducting of such operations; experimentation.
a product that is the result of long experiment.
- Synonyms:
- investigation, research
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Obsolete. experience.
verb (used without object)
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experiments,
present (3rd person singular)
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experimented,
past participle, past
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experimenting
present participle
noun
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a test or investigation, esp one planned to provide evidence for or against a hypothesis: a scientific experiment
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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
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an obsolete word for experience
verb
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A test or procedure carried out under controlled conditions to determine the validity of a hypothesis or make a discovery.
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See Note at hypothesis
Synonym Usage
See trial.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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experimentatornoun
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experimenternoun
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experimentornoun
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preexperimentnoun
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reexperimentverb (used without object)
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proexperimentadjective
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unexperimentedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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experimentsimple
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experimentssimple
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have experimentedperfect
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has experimentedperfect
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am experimentingprogressive
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are experimentingprogressive
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is experimentingprogressive
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have been experimentingperfect progressive
-
has been experimentingperfect progressive
Past
-
experimentedsimple
-
had experimentedperfect
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was experimentingprogressive
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were experimentingprogressive
-
had been experimentingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of experiment
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English: “proof,” from Latin experīmentum “test, trial,” from experī(rī) “to test, try” ( see experience) + -mentum -ment
Explanation
If you see your science-loving neighbor headed home with a power cord, a handful of test tubes, a stopwatch, and a bag of potatoes, there’s probably no need to be alarmed. There’s a good chance he’s only conducting an experiment, a scientific test conducted under controlled conditions. To refer to a scientific test, use the noun experiment. If you want to describe the work done in conducting such a test, experiment will do the trick as well, since it can also act as a verb, as in "scientists experiment with helium." You can also use it more generally to describe trying a new method or idea. For example, you could experiment with a new hairstyle or different routes to get to school or work.
Vocabulary lists containing experiment
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 4
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The Scientific Method
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The New SAT: The Language of the Test
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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.
See Examples For:
"Our experiment provides a very neat way to study these multiple phases."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026
Tech customer contracts are enticing indeed, but investors need to keep in mind that off-grid power at this scale is still an experiment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
It said the agents had appeared to bypass safeguards in a security experiment it was running and gain unauthorised access to Hugging Face.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
So a US-led team of researchers grew some for around seven years, making them the "oldest ever", Paola Arlotta, the senior author of a new study describing the experiment, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Fact: Companies pump the bag with nitrogen gas to prevent the chips from becoming potato crumbs, proven by my experiment in the third grade.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
Dai Yuanyuan, 24, works in a biology lab where she helps conduct experiments that could lead to finding the next lifesaving medicine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
The professor always pushed his team to test potential machine-learning techniques with experiments, Zhong recalled, and researchers sometimes stayed in the lab until 3 a.m. to finish their tests.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Importantly, the calculations indicate that these predicted droplets could be produced using ultracold atom experiments that already exist.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026
Additional experiments involving electron microscopy, molecular biology, and electrophysiology revealed another surprise.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026
The results of these experiments had been published and may have been known to Galileo.
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
He experimented with the grip the day before a Double-A start last year at the advice of coaches, liked how it felt and brought it with him into the game.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Furthermore, the company has experimented with a new “asset-light” option that allows customers to deploy Nebius’ AI cloud offerings within their own data centers.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
In 2017, Danavle and her husband experimented with hydroponic strawberry farming.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
He’s experimented with formations and tactics, shaken up his roster and motivated players by demanding to know why they can’t make a deep run into this World Cup.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
Pecola, on the other hand, restricted by youth and sex, experimented with methods of endurance.
From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
While it still has only a handful of commercial vineyards, along with smaller growers experimenting with wine production, the amount of land being planted with vineyards is continuing to grow.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Some bars, Infante noted, are already experimenting with lower-priced cocktails and expanded happy hours after discovering there may simply be a ceiling to what customers will pay for a drink.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
In other words, the new fossil helps us understand a phase preceding the rise of dinosaurs and crocodiles, when their close relatives were still experimenting with different body shapes, postures, and modes of locomotion.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026
After IBM’s Deep Blue beat world champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, chess began experimenting with a format that allowed human players to consult computer engines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
He sat for a moment smoking and experimenting.
From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger
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.
