perturb

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb disturb in mind or make uneasy or cause to be worried or alarmed
  2. verb disturb or interfere with the usual path of an electron or atom
  3. verb cause a celestial body to deviate from a theoretically regular orbital motion, especially as a result of interposed or extraordinary gravitational pull

Etymology

From Late Middle English perturben (“to disturb (someone) mentally, disquiet; to cause disorder to (something), confuse; to hinder (something)”), from Old French perturber, and from its etymon Latin perturbāre, the present active infinitive of perturbō (“to confuse; to alarm, disturb, trouble, perturb”), from per- (intensifying prefix) + turbō (“to agitate, disturb, unsettle, perturb; to upset”) (from turba (“disorder, disturbance, turmoil”) (possibly from Ancient Greek τῠ́ρβη (tŭ́rbē, “confusion, disorder, tumult”), either from Pre-Greek, or Proto-Indo-European *(s)twerH- (“to agitate, stir up; to urge on, propel”)) + -ō (suffix forming infinitives of regular first-conjugation verbs)).

In classic literature

Synonyms

unhinge, disquiet, trouble, cark, distract, disorder

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