perturb

1. 1.

   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”

   Synonymsunhingedisquiettroublecarkdistractdisorder

   Broaderdisturb

   Narrowerworry
2. 2.

   disturb or interfere with the usual path of an electron or atom

   “The electrons were perturbed by the passing ion”

   Broaderdeviate
3. 3.

   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”

   Broaderdeviate
4. 4.

   throw into great confusion or disorder

   “Fundamentalists threaten to perturb the social order”

   Synonymsderangethrow out of kilter

   Broaderdisorder

Other forms of perturb

past tense

perturbed·

present participle

perturbing·

third person

perturbs·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about perturb

What does perturb mean?

perturb means "disturb in mind or make uneasy or cause to be worried or alarmed". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in perturb?

perturb has 2 syllables: per-turb. The stress falls on "turb". In IPA it is /pɚˈtɝb/.

What is another word for perturb?

Close synonyms include unhinge, disquiet, trouble, cark, distract. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is perturb a common word?

perturb is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.