perturbation
English edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Middle French perturbation, from Old French perturbacion, from Latin perturbatio.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
perturbation (countable and uncountable, plural perturbations)
- (uncountable) Agitation; the state of being perturbed
- 1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?] for Walter Burre, →OCLC, Act IIII:
- Reſtore your ſelues, vnto your temper, Fathers; / And, vvithout perturbation, heare me ſpeake: […]
- 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter V, in Emma: […], volume I, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC:
- But her mind had never been in such perturbation; and it needed a very strong effort to appear attentive and cheerful till the usual hour of separating allowed her the relief of quiet reflection.
- (countable) A small change in a physical system, or more broadly any definable system (such as a biological or economic system)
- 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Youth and Age. XLII.”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC, pages 247–248:
- Natures that haue much Heat, and great and violent deſires and Perturbations, are not ripe for Action, till they haue paſſed the Meridian of their yeares: As it was with Iulius Cæſar, and Septimius Seuerus.
- (countable, astronomy, physics) Variation in an orbit due to the influence of external bodies
Derived terms edit
- cosmological perturbation theory
- perturbation theory
Related terms edit
Translations edit
agitation
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a small change in a physical system or any definable system
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variation in an orbit
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French edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Latin perturbātiōnem.
Pronunciation edit
Audio (file)
Noun edit
perturbation f (plural perturbations)
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
- → Romanian: perturbație
Further reading edit
- “perturbation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.