perturb

Definitions


[pəˈtəːb], (Verb)

Definitions:
- make (someone) anxious or unsettled
(e.g: they were perturbed by her capricious behaviour)

- subject (a system, moving object, or process) to an influence tending to alter its normal or regular state or path
(e.g: nuclear weapons could be used to perturb the orbit of an asteroid)


Phrases:

Origin:
late Middle English: from Old French pertourber, from Latin perturbare, from per- ‘completely’ + turbare ‘disturb’




definition by Oxford Dictionaries