experiment

noun

ik-ˈsper-ə-mənt How to pronounce experiment (audio)
Definition of experimentnext
as in test
a procedure or operation carried out to resolve an uncertainty Benjamin Franklin's famous experiment in which he flew a kite in a thunderstorm to see if lightning and electricity were identical

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of experiment Repeating the experiment with other plants, including tomatoes and wheat, yielded similar results—but an encounter with putrefying animal tissues had no effect. — Joanna Thompson, Scientific American, 17 Oct. 2026 The original 1971 experiment was conducted by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo, who arbitrarily split volunteers into two groups—inmates and guards—and observed how power corrupted them. — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 16 Oct. 2026 Hosting Hackathons Hackathons give developers the space and incentive to experiment while offering hands-on access to the product. — Kevin Cochrane, Forbes.com, 16 Oct. 2026 King Princess, ushered in a new era for her experiments in sonically fluid sapphic pop. — The New Yorker, New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for experiment
Recent Examples of Synonyms for experiment
test
Noun
  • The new tier of intermediate-sized banks would have a community development test, but not an investment and service metric that large banks are graded on.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 13 Oct. 2026
  • And what about OpenAI’s Sam Altman, whose models hacked their way out of a test this summer and launched a cyberattack against the AI company Hugging Face?
    — Diane Brady, Fortune, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of test

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experiential
experiment
experimental
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Cite this Entry

“Experiment.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/experiment. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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