What does perturb mean?
Perturb means to disturb, unsettle, or interfere with something. In ordinary use, the word often suggests that a person’s feelings, plans, or assumptions have been slightly shaken by an unexpected event. For example, a sudden change in circumstances may perturb a team’s confidence or disrupt its arrangements. In scientific and mathematical language, perturb has a more technical meaning: to introduce a small, controlled change into a system or to cause it to depart from a state of equilibrium. The word is generally more formal and specialized than disturb, and its technical use often suggests an alteration whose effects can be observed or calculated. Perturb can also be used in phrases such as perturb the calculation or perturb the equilibrium. It is a useful word because it captures not only disruption but also, especially in technical settings, a deliberate or measurable deviation from an expected state.
verbTo disturb, unsettle, or interfere with something, especially a person, situation, or system. In scientific and mathematical contexts, it means to cause a small or temporary change in a condition or equilibrium.
- To disturb or unsettle a person, state of mind, or situation.
- To interfere with or slightly alter a system, process, or calculation.
- To cause a deviation from a stable or expected state.
"The unexpected result perturbed the researchers’ assumptions about the experiment."
"News of the delay perturbed the carefully arranged schedule."
"The researcher used a small force to perturb the pendulum and observe its motion."
From the same Latin roots as “turbulence” and “turmoil,” perturb literally means to stir things up in a controlled or measurable way.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Words that share this root
Related word forms
How perturb is actually used
Perturb is more formal than the everyday words disturb and unsettle. In technical contexts, especially physics and mathematics, it often implies a deliberate or measurable change to an otherwise stable system.
Easily confused with perturb
Perturb means to disturb or unsettle something, whereas preclude means to prevent something from happening.