experiment
Americannoun
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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)
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
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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
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.
The researchers noted that performance was limited by the bandwidth of the commercial photodetector used in the experiment.
From Science Daily • Apr. 2, 2026
For me, it was important to give us the rehearsal space, to experiment with the physicality of the space and how we relate to each other.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026
The Galaxy Z TriFold may represent the ceiling of a yearslong experiment on phone sizes, where bigger equaled better.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026
The generals loosened their grip for a decade-long democratic experiment beginning in 2011, allowing Aung San Suu Kyi to ascend as civilian leader and steer a period of reform as the nation opened up.
From Barron's • Mar. 31, 2026
About the time of the Pascals' conversion, a friend of Étienne’s—a military engineer—came to visit and repeated Torricelli’s experiment for the Pascals.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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.
