perturb
Americanverb (used with object)
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perturbs,
present (3rd person singular)
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perturbed,
past participle, past
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perturbing
present participle
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to disturb or disquiet greatly in mind; agitate.
I can see how such a massive change in your routine would perturb you.
- Antonyms:
- pacify
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to throw into great disorder.
Huge construction projects can take years to finish, and meanwhile, can greatly perturb the neighborhood.
- Synonyms:
- muddle, disarrange, confuse
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Astronomy. to cause perturbation in the orbit of (a celestial body).
verb
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to disturb the composure of; trouble
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to throw into disorder
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physics astronomy to cause (a planet, electron, etc) to undergo a perturbation
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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perturbabilitynoun
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perturbatornoun
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perturbernoun
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perturbmentnoun
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nonperturbableadjective
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nonperturbingadjective
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perturbableadjective
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perturbatiousadjective
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perturbingadjective
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unperturbableadjective
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unperturbingadjective
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perturbablyadverb
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perturbinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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perturbsimple
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perturbssimple
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have perturbedperfect
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has perturbedperfect
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am perturbingprogressive
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are perturbingprogressive
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is perturbingprogressive
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have been perturbingperfect progressive
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has been perturbingperfect progressive
Past
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perturbedsimple
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had perturbedperfect
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was perturbingprogressive
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were perturbingprogressive
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had been perturbingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of perturb
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English perturben (from Old French perturber ), from Latin perturbāre “to throw into confusion,” from per- per- + turbāre “to agitate, confuse” ( see turbid)
Explanation
To perturb is to bug or bother someone by confusing them or throwing them off balance. You can try, but it's almost impossible to perturb the guards outside Buckingham Palace. If you're having trouble getting used to the word perturb, you're in luck! It's similar in meaning to the verb "disturb." That's right, to perturb is to disturb, but in a way that suggests you're throwing it off its usual path or routine. The movie Born Free truly perturbed widespread views about animals—people suddenly started seeing them as individuals. If you stare at a person you don't know, it won't be long before you perturb them.
Vocabulary lists containing perturb
Grade 9, List 5
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The God of Small Things
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List 3
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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:
"This technology lets us perturb hundreds to thousands of genes in parallel and then measure the detailed molecular changes in each individual cell," says Cao.
From Science Daily ● May 21, 2026
Some possible treatments have looked to block the origin of the itch to relieve the sensation, Gualdani said, “but it seems if we perturb this pathway, we also perturb eventual itch relief.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 21, 2026
Overall, there's nothing here that would perturb a consumer.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2025
A deficiency can perturb the proper formation of those circuits, Eyles and his colleagues have found.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 13, 2023
The storm, and the resulting minor earthquakes, did not perturb the meerkats in the least.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
The main problem with room temperature is thermal noise, which perturbs delicate quantum dynamics.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 14, 2024
Perhaps this marks the beginning of a pop culture reconsideration of America’s role in the war, adding nuance that perturbs the accepted heroic narrative.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
There are indeed magnetic anomaly stripes that go through Iceland, although the activity of the island's volcanoes perturbs those stripes, so they are hard to follow.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 20, 2020
It is where Snyder and his closest companions retreat when the game perturbs him, when his intensity boils over.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 14, 2016
A ghost story well told in the daytime perturbs a superstitious mind; but to feel queer at its recital in the night one need not necessarily be superstitious at all.
From The Siege of Kimberley by T. Phelan
Livingston, playing a cold workaholic, seems generally perturbed to be there, while Bilson’s Julie, desperate to make her family whole again, also has an air of desperation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
But some do remain perturbed, including another teenager in the Scottish borders, 16-year-old Ellie, who says: "I was so scared of him when I was little," Ellie confides.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
So my advice to people during these times is just do your job and show they were wrong and act like you’re unperturbed by it even though you are perturbed by it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 21, 2026
More curiously, even though U.S. high-yield spreads are at post-1998 lows, few investors seemed to be unduly perturbed here.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 18, 2025
Mr. Watras looked pretty perturbed by this news — every teacher in the world has a soft spot for Annette, plus the girl’s a musical dynamo.
From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick
Luka Doncic is the Lakers star opposing players love to hate, but his energy and reputation for perturbing players and fans is what makes him great.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2026
The last is especially perturbing to the family dog, Starbuck.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
That people are so susceptible to what they read, watch and listen to online is perturbing enough as it is.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2025
I was especially struck by an extremely perturbing exchange between the two, about what appears to be Summers’ embattled pursuit of a woman.
From Slate ● Nov. 13, 2025
But we have also been perturbing the climate in the opposite sense.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
