Definition of "experiment" []

• 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. (noun)
• The process of conducting such a test; experimentation. (noun)
• An innovative act or procedure: "Democracy is only an experiment in government” ( William Ralph Inge). (noun)
• The result of experimentation: "We are not [nature's] only experiment” ( R. Buckminster Fuller). (noun)
• To conduct an experiment. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The mercury instantly sank to nearly 30 in. above the surface of the mercury in the basin, leaving in the top of the tube an apparent vacuum, which is now called the _Torricellian vacuum_; this experiment is sometimes known as the _Torricellian experiment_."
• "Critics of the drug culture of the later sixties, especially as promoted by Timothy Leary and his followers, point out correctly that using the word experiment is inaccurate."
• "The use of the term experiment also implies that we, collectively, can study the effects of the government's actions, take note, and change what our government does in the future."