Definition of PERTURBED

Choose the Right Synonym for perturb

discompose, disquiet, disturb, perturb, agitate, upset, fluster mean to destroy capacity for collected thought or decisive action. discompose implies some degree of loss of self-control or self-confidence especially through emotional stress. discomposed by the loss of his beloved wife disquiet suggests loss of sense of security or peace of mind. the disquieting news of factories closing disturb implies interference with one's mental processes caused by worry, perplexity, or interruption. the discrepancy in accounts disturbed me perturb implies deep disturbance of mind and emotions. perturbed by her husband's strange behavior agitate suggests obvious external signs of nervous or emotional excitement. in his agitated state we could see he was unable to work upset implies the disturbance of normal or habitual functioning by disappointment, distress, or grief. the family's constant bickering upsets the youngest child fluster suggests bewildered agitation. his declaration of love completely flustered her

Examples of perturb in a Sentence

It perturbed him that his son was thinking about leaving school. the caller's strange remark perturbed me enough to keep me awake that night

Recent Examples on the Web

Despite Evertonians becoming increasingly perturbed at Allardyce's defensive tactics, the 63-year-old opted to shift the blame game from his own misgivings and claim that his senior stars weren't showing their best form or their talents. — SI.com, "Sam Allardyce Risks Alienating Everton Stars Over 'No Value for Money' Claims," 27 Feb. 2018 But privacy groups are perturbed by drone monitoring—already used elsewhere in searches and surveillance. — Gregory Barber, WIRED, "Crime Fighting Gets High-Tech Advances," 3 June 2018 Largely, however, health care companies—and drug makers specifically—don’t seem particularly perturbed by the tough talk. — Sy Mukherjee, Fortune, "Brainstorm Health: Trump Drug Price Prediction, Sanofi's Roseanne Subtweet, Healthy Life Expectancy," 30 May 2018 In contrast, majority-level concerns about China’s military power or Russia’s territorial ambitions were limited to Republican leaders (the greater Republican-leaning public did not seem to be especially perturbed by China or Russia). — Adam Taylor, Washington Post, "The Pentagon says China and Russia are bigger problems for U.S. than terrorists. American voters may not agree.," 20 Jan. 2018 Fans more recently acquainted with the book or with the 1994 movie might be perturbed by the slight changes, but going in cold is preferable. — Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, "Review: PBS's 'Little Women' is a warm bath of lightness and love," 11 May 2018 In Hawaiian myth and culture, Pele is the goddess of fire and volcano and devours the Big Island when she is perturbed. — Angela Fritz, chicagotribune.com, "8 facts about Hawaii's Kilauea volcano," 7 May 2018 The distance between them would decrease the chance that environmental effects could perturb both particles at once, which potentially makes such qubits highly stable, says study co-lead author Hao Zhang, a quantum physicist at Delft. — Charles Q. Choi, Scientific American, "Quantum Leaps in Quantum Computing?," 1 Dec. 2017 But this moisture also perturbs air currents, so in some years, Pacific moisture is all channeled toward California via atmospheric rivers while in other years, this concentrated plume discharges elsewhere, leaving the Golden State to dry out. — Umair Irfan, Vox, "California’s droughts and deluges portend the weather “whiplash” to come," 24 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'perturb.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.