Standard Lemma guide

experiment

noun · verb · 11 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ɪ.mənt/
  • UK: /ɛkˈspɛɹ.ɪ.mənt/
  • US: /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/
  • US: /ɪkˈspɪɹ.ə.mənt/
  • California: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australian: /ɪkˈspeɹ.ə.mənt/
  • New-Zealand: /əkˈspeɹ.ə.mənt/
  • UK: /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ɪ.mɛnt/
  • US: /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mɛnt/
  • CMU ARPABET: IH0 K S P EH1 R AH0 M AH0 N T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • conduct an experiment
  • carry out some experiments
  • perform a scientific experiment

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Experience, practical familiarity with something.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To conduct an experiment.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

Examples

  • We're going to experiment on rats.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To experience; to feel; to perceive; to detect.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

verb

Meaning 5

To test or ascertain by experiment; to try out; to make an experiment on.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

verb

Meaning 6

To try something to observe the results.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive, often

Examples

  • I want to experiment with psychedelics.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

the act of conducting a controlled test or investigation

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: experimentation

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: scientific research, research project

Narrower terms: testing, trial and error, Michelson-Morley experiment, control experiment

8

noun

Meaning 8

a venture at something new or different

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • as an experiment he decided to grow a beard

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: venture

9

noun

Meaning 9

the testing of an idea

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • it was an experiment in living
  • not all experimentation is done in laboratories

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: experimentation

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: inquiry, enquiry, research

Narrower terms: pilot experiment, trial, trial run, test, tryout

10

verb

Meaning 10

to conduct a test or investigation

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • We are experimenting with the new drug in order to fight this disease

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: investigate, look into

11

verb

Meaning 11

try something new, as in order to gain experience

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • Students experiment sexually
  • The composer experimented with a new style

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: try out

Antonyms: none provided

History

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-.

Across languages

Translations

172 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: eksperiment — test under controlled conditions
  • Arabic: تَجْرِبَة (tajriba) — test under controlled conditions
  • Arabic: اِخْتِبَار (iḵtibār) — test under controlled conditions
  • Armenian: փորձ (pʻorj) — test under controlled conditions
  • Armenian: փորձարկում (pʻorjarkum) — test under controlled conditions
  • Azerbaijani: təcrübə — test under controlled conditions
  • Azerbaijani: eksperiment — test under controlled conditions
  • Bashkir: тәжрибә (təjribə) — test under controlled conditions
  • Belarusian: эксперыме́нт (ekspjerymjént) — test under controlled conditions
  • Belarusian: экспэрымэ́нт (eksperymént) — test under controlled conditions
  • Belarusian: до́след (dósljed) — test under controlled conditions
  • Belarusian: во́пыт (vópyt) — test under controlled conditions
  • Belarusian: про́ба (próba) — test under controlled conditions
  • Bengali: পরীক্ষা (porikkha) — test under controlled conditions
  • Bulgarian: о́пит (ópit) — test under controlled conditions
  • Bulgarian: експериме́нт (eksperimént) — test under controlled conditions
  • Burmese: အစမ်း (a.cam:) — test under controlled conditions
  • Burmese: အစမ်းအသပ် (a.cam:a.sap) — test under controlled conditions
  • Catalan: experiment — test under controlled conditions
  • Chinese Cantonese: 實驗 /实验 (sat6 jim6) — test under controlled conditions
  • Chinese Mandarin: 實驗 /实验 (shíyàn) — test under controlled conditions
  • Czech: pokus — test under controlled conditions
  • Czech: experiment — test under controlled conditions
  • Danish: eksperiment — test under controlled conditions
  • Danish: forsøg — test under controlled conditions
  • Dutch: experiment — test under controlled conditions
  • Dutch: proef — test under controlled conditions
  • Esperanto: eksperimento — test under controlled conditions
  • Estonian: eksperiment — test under controlled conditions
  • Finnish: (tieteellinen) koe — test under controlled conditions
  • French: expérience — test under controlled conditions
  • Galician: experimento — test under controlled conditions
  • Georgian: ექსპერიმენტი (eksṗerimenṭi) — test under controlled conditions
  • German: Experiment — test under controlled conditions
  • German: Versuch — test under controlled conditions
  • Greek: πείραμα (peírama) — test under controlled conditions
  • Ancient Greek: πεῖρα (peîra) — test under controlled conditions
  • Hebrew: ניסוי — test under controlled conditions
  • Hebrew: נִסּוּי (nisúi) — test under controlled conditions
  • Hindi: प्रयोग (prayog) — test under controlled conditions
  • Hindi: तजुर्बा (tajurbā) — test under controlled conditions
  • Hindi: परीक्षा (parīkṣā) — test under controlled conditions
  • Hungarian: kísérlet — test under controlled conditions
  • Hungarian: próba — test under controlled conditions
  • Icelandic: tilraun — test under controlled conditions
  • Irish: tástáil — test under controlled conditions
  • Irish: turgnamh — test under controlled conditions
  • Italian: esperimento — test under controlled conditions
  • Japanese: 実験 (jikken) — test under controlled conditions
  • Kazakh: тәжірибе (täjıribe) — test under controlled conditions
  • Kazakh: эксперимент (éksperiment) — test under controlled conditions
  • Khmer: បរីក្សា (paʼreksaa) — test under controlled conditions
  • Khmer: ពិសោធន៍ (pisaot) — test under controlled conditions
  • Korean: 실험 (silheom) — test under controlled conditions
  • Kyrgyz: тажрыйба (tajrıyba) — test under controlled conditions
  • Kyrgyz: эксперимент (eksperiment) — test under controlled conditions
  • Lao: ການທົດລອງ (kān thot lǭng) — test under controlled conditions
  • Latin: experīmentum — test under controlled conditions
  • Latin: perīculum — test under controlled conditions
  • Latvian: eksperiments — test under controlled conditions
  • Latvian: mēģinājums — test under controlled conditions
  • Lithuanian: eksperimentas — test under controlled conditions
  • Macedonian: опит (opit) — test under controlled conditions
  • Macedonian: експериме́нт (eksperimént) — test under controlled conditions
  • Macedonian: оглед (ogled) — test under controlled conditions
  • Malay: uji kaji — test under controlled conditions
  • Malay: eksperimen — test under controlled conditions
  • Māori: whakamātauranga — test under controlled conditions
  • Māori: whakamātau — test under controlled conditions
  • Norwegian Bokmål: eksperiment — test under controlled conditions
  • Norwegian Bokmål: forsøk — test under controlled conditions
  • Occitan: experiment — test under controlled conditions
  • Pashto: آزمايش (āzmāyeš) — test under controlled conditions
  • Pashto: تجربه (tajreba) — test under controlled conditions
  • Iranian Persian: آزمایِش (âzmâyeš) — test under controlled conditions
  • Iranian Persian: تَجْرُبِه (tajrobe) — test under controlled conditions
  • Iranian Persian: تَجْرِبِه (tajrebe) — test under controlled conditions
  • Plautdietsch: Proow — test under controlled conditions
  • Polish: eksperyment — test under controlled conditions
  • Polish: doświadczenie — test under controlled conditions
  • Polish: próba — test under controlled conditions
  • Portuguese: experimento — test under controlled conditions
  • Portuguese: experiência — test under controlled conditions
  • Punjabi: ਪਰੀਖਿਆ (parīkhiā) — test under controlled conditions
  • Romanian: experiment — test under controlled conditions
  • Russian: экспериме́нт (eksperimént) — test under controlled conditions
  • Russian: о́пыт (ópyt) — test under controlled conditions
  • Russian: про́ба (próba) — test under controlled conditions
  • Serbo-Croatian: експерѝмент — test under controlled conditions
  • Serbo-Croatian: о̀пит — test under controlled conditions
  • Serbo-Croatian: eksperìment — test under controlled conditions
  • Serbo-Croatian: òpit — test under controlled conditions
  • Serbo-Croatian: pokus — test under controlled conditions
  • Slovak: pokus — test under controlled conditions
  • Slovak: experiment — test under controlled conditions
  • Slovene: poskus — test under controlled conditions
  • Slovene: eksperiment — test under controlled conditions
  • Spanish: experimento — test under controlled conditions
  • Swahili: jaribio — test under controlled conditions
  • Swedish: experiment — test under controlled conditions
  • Swedish: försök — test under controlled conditions
  • Tagalog: tilaw — test under controlled conditions
  • Tagalog: eksperimento — test under controlled conditions
  • Tajik: озмоиш (ozmoyiš) — test under controlled conditions
  • Tajik: таҷриба (tajriba) — test under controlled conditions
  • Tajik: таҷруба (tajruba) — test under controlled conditions
  • Tatar: тәҗрибә (täcribä) — test under controlled conditions
  • Tatar: эксперимент (eksperiment) — test under controlled conditions
  • Telugu: ప్రయోగము (prayōgamu) — test under controlled conditions
  • Thai: การทดลอง (gaan-tót-lɔɔng) — test under controlled conditions
  • Turkish: deney (n) — test under controlled conditions
  • Turkish: tecrübe — test under controlled conditions
  • Turkish: deneme — test under controlled conditions
  • Turkmen: eksperiment — test under controlled conditions
  • Turkmen: tejribe — test under controlled conditions
  • Ukrainian: експериме́нт (eksperymént) — test under controlled conditions
  • Ukrainian: до́слід (dóslid) — test under controlled conditions
  • Ukrainian: до́свід (dósvid) — test under controlled conditions
  • Ukrainian: спро́ба (spróba) — test under controlled conditions
  • Urdu: تَجْرِبَہ (tajriba) — test under controlled conditions
  • Uyghur: تەجرىبە (tejribe) — test under controlled conditions
  • Uzbek: eksperiment — test under controlled conditions
  • Uzbek: tajriba — test under controlled conditions
  • Vietnamese: thí nghiệm — test under controlled conditions
  • Welsh: arbrawf — test under controlled conditions
  • Yiddish: עקספּערימענט (eksperiment) — test under controlled conditions
  • Arabic: جَرَّبَ (jarraba) — to conduct an experiment
  • Armenian: փորձարկել (pʻorjarkel) — to conduct an experiment
  • Belarusian: эксперыментава́ць (ekspjerymjentavácʹ) — to conduct an experiment
  • Bulgarian: експерименти́рам (eksperimentíram) — to conduct an experiment
  • Catalan: experimentar — to conduct an experiment
  • Catalan: fer experiment — to conduct an experiment
  • Chinese Mandarin: 實驗 /实验 (shíyàn) — to conduct an experiment
  • Czech: experimentovat — to conduct an experiment
  • Danish: eksperimentere — to conduct an experiment
  • Dutch: experimenteren — to conduct an experiment
  • Esperanto: eksperimenti — to conduct an experiment
  • Estonian: eksperimenteerima — to conduct an experiment
  • Finnish: kokeilla — to conduct an experiment
  • Finnish: tehdä koe — to conduct an experiment
  • French: expérimenter — to conduct an experiment
  • German: experimentieren — to conduct an experiment
  • Greek: πειραματίζομαι (peiramatízomai) — to conduct an experiment
  • Hungarian: kísérletezik — to conduct an experiment
  • Italian: fare esperimento — to conduct an experiment
  • Japanese: 実験する (jikken suru) — to conduct an experiment
  • Khmer: ពិសោធ (pisaot) — to conduct an experiment
  • Korean: 실험하다 (silheomhada) — to conduct an experiment
  • Northern Kurdish: ezmûn — to conduct an experiment
  • Latvian: eksperimentēt — to conduct an experiment
  • Macedonian: експерименти́ра (eksperimentíra) — to conduct an experiment
  • Malay: menguji kaji — to conduct an experiment
  • Māori: whakamātau — to conduct an experiment
  • Khiamniungan Naga: tûalū — to conduct an experiment
  • Polish: eksperymentować — to conduct an experiment
  • Polish: przeprowadzać doświadczenie — to conduct an experiment
  • Portuguese: experimentar — to conduct an experiment
  • Quechua: yañay — to conduct an experiment
  • Russian: эксперименти́ровать (eksperimentírovatʹ) — to conduct an experiment
  • Russian: производи́ть о́пыт (proizvodítʹ ópyt) — to conduct an experiment
  • Russian: произвести́ о́пыт (proizvestí ópyt) — to conduct an experiment
  • Russian: ста́вить о́пыт (stávitʹ ópyt) — to conduct an experiment
  • Russian: поста́вить о́пыт (postávitʹ ópyt) — to conduct an experiment
  • Spanish: experimentar — to conduct an experiment
  • Spanish: expermentar — to conduct an experiment
  • Swahili: -jaribu — to conduct an experiment
  • Swedish: experimentera — to conduct an experiment
  • Thai: ทดลอง (tót-lɔɔng) — to conduct an experiment
  • Ukrainian: експериментува́ти (eksperymentuváty) — to conduct an experiment
  • Bulgarian: опитвам (opitvam) — to try out
  • Bulgarian: опитам (opitam) — to try out
  • Esperanto: provi — to try out
Real reading context

experiment in complete knowledge articles