Experiment

//ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 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"

  2. 2
    the act of conducting a controlled test or investigation wordnet
  3. 3
    Experience, practical familiarity with something. obsolete

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

  4. 4
    a venture at something new or different wordnet
  5. 5
    the testing of an idea wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To conduct an experiment. intransitive

    "We're going to experiment on rats."

  2. 2
    to conduct a test or investigation wordnet
  3. 3
    To experience; to feel; to perceive; to detect. obsolete, transitive

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

  4. 4
    try something new, as in order to gain experience wordnet
  5. 5
    To test or ascertain by experiment; to try out; to make an experiment on. obsolete, transitive

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

Etymology

Etymology 1

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-.

Etymology 2

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-.

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