perturb
verb
Simple meaning
Disturb in mind or make uneasy or cause to be worried or alarmed.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
perturbSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
pɚˈtɝb
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
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.”
Disturb or interfere with the usual path of an electron or atom
“The electrons were perturbed by the passing ion.”
To disturb; to bother or unsettle.
astronomy
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.”
physics
To slightly modify the motion of an object.
astronomy
To modify the motion of a body by exerting a gravitational force.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Disturb in mind or make uneasy or cause to be worried or alarmed
Used this way, perturb is a common word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It sounds natural in ordinary conversation and in expressive writing alike.
“She was rather perturbed by the news that her father was seriously ill.”
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Disturbverb
“She was rather perturbed by the news that her father was seriously ill.”
Cause / modifyverb
“The orbits of these stars were perturbed by the passings of a comet.”
More ways to use perturb
- “She was rather perturbed by the news that her father was seriously ill.”verb
- “The electrons were perturbed by the passing ion.”verb
- “The orbits of these stars were perturbed by the passings of a comet.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Other combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
An unhappy and worried mental state.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: disturb in mind or make uneasy
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.