perturb

/pə'tə:b/

Thân thiện

She was perturbed by the sudden loud noise outside her window.

Definition

1. Verb (transitive):
   • To disturb or disquiet greatly in mind; agitate: To cause someone to feel anxious, unsettled, or alarmed.
   • To throw into great disorder or confusion: To cause a system, state, or arrangement to become unstable or deranged.
   • To cause a deviation in a regular motion or path: In physics and astronomy, to cause a celestial body or a subatomic particle to deviate from its expected, regular orbit or trajectory due to an external influence.

Examples of Usage

• Verb:
  • The sudden change in management perturbed the entire staff.
  • The scientist explained how a large planet could perturb the orbit of a passing comet.
  • News of the security breach perturbed the company's investors.

Advanced Usage

• "to be perturbed by/at something": To be feeling anxious or unsettled because of something.
  • He was deeply perturbed by the lack of communication from the team.
• Used in technical/scientific contexts (physics, astronomy, chemistry) to describe the disturbance of a system from its normal state.
  • The experiment measured how the magnetic field perturbed the electron's path.

Variants and Related Words

• Perturbation (noun): A state of anxiety or disturbance; a deviation of a system, moving object, or process from its regular or normal state.
  • The political scandal caused significant perturbation in the markets.
  • Gravitational perturbation.
• Perturbing (adjective): Causing anxiety or concern; disturbing.
  • She found the silence in the house deeply perturbing.

Synonyms

• Agitate: To disturb or excite emotionally.
• Disquiet: To make uneasy or anxious.
• Upset: To disturb the normal state, order, or functioning of.
• Disturb: To interfere with the normal arrangement or functioning of.

Antonyms

• Calm: To make peaceful or tranquil.
• Soothe: To gently calm or relieve.
• Compose: To settle or arrange; to make calm.

Related Phrases/Idioms

• "to perturb the equilibrium": To disturb a state of balance or stability.
  • The introduction of a new predator can perturb the ecological equilibrium of a region.

Học thuật

Verb

1. throw into great confusion or disorder
   • Fundamental Islamicists threaten to perturb the social order in Algeria and Egypt
2. 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
3. disturb or interfere with the usual path of an electron or atom
   • The electrons were perturbed by the passing ion
4. 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

Từ đồng nghĩa

• derange
• throw out of kilter
• unhinge
• disquiet
• trouble
• cark
• distract
• disorder