perturbing

Verb

perturb (third-person singular simple present perturbs, present participle perturbing, simple past and past participle perturbed)

1. (transitive) To cause (something) to be physically disordered or disturbed; to cause confusion.
   • Mary therefore the more knaue art thou I ſay / That perturbeſt the worde of god I ſay […]a. 1521 (date written), [John Heywood], A Mery Play betwene the Pardoner and the Frere, the Curate and Neybour Pratte, London: […] Wyllyam Rastell, published 15 April 1533 (Gregorian calendar)...

   Synonyms:

   derange, disturb, unsettle, addle, baffle, vex, lose, embroil, stick, stump

2. (transitive) To disturb (someone, their mind, etc.) mentally; to bother, trouble, upset.
   • […] I have often found / The truth thereof, in my private paſſions: / For I doe never feele my ſelfe perturb'd / VVith any generall vvords 'gainſt my profeſſion, / They doe avvake, and ſtirre me: […]1632 (first performance), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “The Magnetick Lady: Or, Humors Reconcil’d. A Comedy […]”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio)...

   Synonyms:

   agitate, distress, unsettle, freak, sting, bother, bring down, discompose, unstring, disconcert

   Antonyms:

   besoothe, cheer, comfort, console, solace, soothe

3. (transitive) Of a celestial body: to modify the motion or orbit of (another celestial body) by exerting a gravitational force; hence (physics), to slightly modify (the motion of an object).
4. (transitive) To slightly modify (a set of equations or their solutions), producing deviations from a simple, easily solvable problem, in order to find an approximate solution to a problem that is more difficult to solve or otherwise unsolvable.
5. (transitive) To influence (a process or system) so that it deviates from its normal state.
6. (intransitive) To bother, to disturb, to trouble.
   • Thy ghoſt O father ſweete, thy greuous ghoſt, / Perturbing in my dremes hath me compeld to ſee this coaſt.1557 August 23 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Virgil, “The Syxt Booke”, in Thomas Phaer, transl., The Seuen First Bookes of the Eneidos of Virgill, Conuerted in Englishe Meter […], London: […]...

   Synonyms:

   agitate