Perturb \Per*turb"\, v. t. [L. perturbare, perturbatum; per +
turbare to disturb, fr. turba a disorder: cf. OF. perturber.
See Per-, and Turbid.]
1. To disturb; to agitate; to vex; to trouble; to disquiet.
[1913 Webster]
Ye that . . . perturb so my feast with crying.
--Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
2. To disorder; to confuse. [R.] --Sir T. Browne.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
perturb
v 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" [syn: unhinge, disquiet, trouble,
cark, distract, disorder]
2: disturb or interfere with the usual path of an electron or
atom; "The electrons were perturbed by the passing ion"
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"
4: throw into great confusion or disorder; "Fundamental
Islamicists threaten to perturb the social order in
Algeria and Egypt" [syn: derange, throw out of kilter]
WordNet (r) 2.0
110 Moby Thesaurus words for "perturb":
abash, addle, addle the wits, afflict, agitate, ail, alarm,
ball up, be the matter, beat, beat up, becloud, bedazzle, befuddle,
beset, bewilder, bother, bug, burden, churn, churn up, cloud,
complicate matters, concern, confuse, convulse, daze, dazzle,
disarrange, discombobulate, discomfit, discomfort, discommode,
discompose, disconcert, dishevel, dismay, disorder, disorganize,
disorient, disquiet, distract, distress, disturb, electrify,
embarrass, embroil, entangle, excite, ferment, flummox, flurry,
fluster, flutter, fog, fret, fuddle, fuss, harass, inconvenience,
irk, jar, jolt, jumble, knock galley-west, load with care, maze,
mist, mix up, moider, muddle, paddle, perplex, perturbate, plague,
pother, psych, put out, put to it, puzzle, raise hell, rattle,
rile, ripple, rock, roil, roughen, ruffle, rumple, shake, shake up,
shock, spook, stagger, stir, stir up, swirl, throw,
throw into confusion, torment, trouble, unnerve, unsettle, upset,
vex, whip, whip up, whisk, work up, worry
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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