experiment

English

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experiment

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English experiment, from Old French esperiment (French expérience), from Latin experimentum (“experience, attempt, experiment”), from experior (“to experience, to attempt”), itself from ex + *perior, in turn from Proto-Indo-European *per-.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ɪ.mənt/, /ɛkˈspɛɹ.ɪ.mənt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/, /ɪkˈspɪɹ.ə.mənt/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Hyphenation: ex‧per‧i‧ment

Noun

experiment (plural experiments)

1. A test under controlled conditions made to either demonstrate a known truth, examine the validity of a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried.

   conduct an experiment

   carry out some experiments

   perform a scientific experiment

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Laboratory”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. , volume II, London: Henry Colburn, , →OCLC, page 327:

     From her childhood she had been accustomed to watch, and often to aid, in her uncle's chemical experiments; she was, therefore, not at a loss, as a complete novice in the science would have been.

   • 2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     South Korean officials announced last month that an experiment to create artificial rain did not provide the desired results.

     Audio (US)

     (file)

2. (obsolete) Experience, practical familiarity with something.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Pilot [...] Vpon his card and compas firmes his eye,
     The maisters of his long experiment,
     And to them does the steddy helme apply [...].

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

experiment (third-person singular simple present experiments, present participle experimenting, simple past and past participle experimented)

1. (intransitive) To conduct an experiment.

   We're going to experiment on rats.

   • 1951 October, “Models Assist Rolling Stock Design”, in Railway Magazine, page 647:

     As well as demonstrating operating facilities, full-size car body models are used for experimenting with new types of interior finish, systems of lighting, positioning of route diagrams and advertisements, and the best form of windscreens at doorways, and the height and location of handgrips and handrails.

   • 1978 August 19, David Brill, “California Here I Come!”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 5, page 10:

     Bob is a shameless tourist: Coit Tower, Fisherman's Wharf, Twin Peaks, ad infinitum. I think walking the streets with a map in hand looks dumb; experimenting is much more fun.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To experience; to feel; to perceive; to detect.
   • 1662 Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (Dialogue 2):

     The Earth, the which may have carried us about perpetually ... without our being ever able to experiment its rest.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To test or ascertain by experiment; to try out; to make an experiment on.
   • 1481, The Mirrour of the World, William Caxton, 1.5.22:

     Til they had experimented whiche was trewe, and who knewe most.

Derived terms

• experimenter

Translations

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “experiment”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin experīmentum. First attested in 1460.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

Noun

experiment m (plural experiments)

1. experiment

Derived terms

• experimental
• experimentar

References

Further reading

• “experiment” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “experiment” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “experiment” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin experīmentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

experiment m inan

1. experiment

   Synonym: pokus

   provést experiment ― to perform an experiment

Declension

Related terms

Further reading

• experiment in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• experiment in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
• experiment in Internetová jazyková příručka

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch experiment, from Old French experiment, from Latin experimentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɛks.peː.riˈmɛnt/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ex‧pe‧ri‧ment
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

experiment n (plural experimenten, diminutive experimentje n)

1. experiment

   Synonyms: proef, test

Related terms

Descendants

• → Indonesian: eksperimen

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin experīmentum.

Noun

experiment m (plural experiments)

1. experiment

Related terms

• experimentar

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin experimentum.

Noun

experiment n (plural experimente)

1. experiment

Declension

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin experīmentum, attested from 1682.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛksp(ɛ)rɪˈmɛnt/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

experiment n

1. experiment

Declension

Related terms

• experimentell

References

• experiment in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• experiment in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)