experiment

noun

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”

   “carry out some experiments”

   “perform a scientific experiment”

   “From her childhood she had been accustomed to watch, and often to aid, in her uncle's chemical experiments; she was, therefore, not at a loss, as a complete novice in the science would have been.”

   “South Korean officials announced last month that an experiment to create artificial rain did not provide the desired results.”

2. (obsolete)Experience, practical familiarity with something.

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

verb

1. (intransitive)To conduct an experiment.

   “We're going to experiment on rats.”

   “As well as demonstrating operating facilities, full-size car body models are used for experimenting with new types of interior finish, systems of lighting, positioning of route diagrams and advertisements, and the best form of windscreens at doorways, and the height and location of handgrips and handrails.”

   “Bob is a shameless tourist: Coit Tower, Fisherman's Wharf, Twin Peaks, ad infinitum. I think walking the streets with a map in hand looks dumb; experimenting is much more fun.”

2. (obsolete, transitive)To experience; to feel; to perceive; to detect.

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

3. (obsolete, transitive)To test or ascertain by experiment; to try out; to make an experiment on.

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

4. (intransitive, often)To try something to observe the results.

   “I want to experiment with psychedelics.”