perturbation

Borrowed from Middle French perturbation, from Old French perturbacion, from Latin perturbatio

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

perturbation (countable and uncountable, plural perturbations)

1. (uncountable) Agitation; the state of being perturbed
   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume I, chapter 5:

     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.

2. (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 or Covncils, Civill and Moral, […] Newly Written, London: Printed by Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, OCLC 863521290; newly enlarged edition, London: Printed by Iohn Haviland, […], 1632, OCLC 863527675, 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.

3. (countable, astronomy, physics) Variation in an orbit due to the influence of external bodies
   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume I, chapter 5:

     Emma is spoiled by being the cleverest of her family. At ten years old, she had the misfortune of being able to answer questions which puzzled her sister at seventeen. She was always quick and assured: Isabella slow and diffident.

• perturb
• perturbatory

Borrowed from Latin perturbatio, perturbationem.

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perturbation f (plural perturbations)

1. disturbance
2. derangement

• perturber

• “perturbation” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).