experiment

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A test under controlled conditions that is made to demonstrate a known truth, examine the validity of a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy of something previously untried.
2. n. The process of conducting such a test; experimentation.
3. n. An innovative act or procedure: "Democracy is only an experiment in government” ( William Ralph Inge).
4. n. The result of experimentation: "We are not [nature's] only experiment” ( R. Buckminster Fuller).
5. v. To conduct an experiment.
6. v. To try something new, especially in order to gain experience: experiment with new methods of teaching.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A trial; a test; specifically, the operation of subjecting objects to certain conditions and observing the result, in order to test some principle or supposition, or to discover something new.
2. n. A becoming practically acquainted with something; an experience.
3. To make trial; make an experiment; operate on a body in such a manner as to discover some unknown fact, or to establish it when known: as, philosophers experiment on natural bodies for the discovery of their qualities and combinations.
4. To try; search out by trial; put to the proof.
5. To know or perceive by experience; experience.

Wiktionary

1. n. A test under controlled conditions made to either demonstrate a known truth, examine the validity of a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy of something previously untried.
2. n. obsolete Experience, practical familiarity with something.
3. v. intransitive To conduct an experiment.
4. v. transitive, obsolete To experience; to feel; to perceive; to detect.
5. v. transitive, obsolete To test or ascertain by experiment; to try out; to make an experiment on.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A trial or special observation, made to confirm or disprove something uncertain; esp., one under controlled conditions determined by the experimenter; an act or operation undertaken in order to discover some unknown principle or effect, or to test, establish, or illustrate some hypothesis, theory, or known truth; practical test; proof.
2. n. obsolete Experience.
3. v. To make experiment; to operate by test or trial; -- often with on, upon, or in, referring to the subject of an experiment; with, referring to the instrument; and by, referring to the means
4. v. obsolete To try; to know, perceive, or prove, by trial or experience.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a venture at something new or different
2. v. try something new, as in order to gain experience
3. n. the act of conducting a controlled test or investigation
4. v. to conduct a test or investigation
5. n. the testing of an idea