experimentation

Etymology

It is formed from English experiment + -ation, a noun of action from the verb experiment.^[2][3][4] The verb comes from the noun, which goes back through Old French esperment to Latin experīmentum (“a trial, test, proof”), from experior (“to try, test”).^[3][5] The OED compares Medieval Latin experimentatio, recorded from the 13th century in British sources, Middle French expérimentation, recorded by 1530, and Spanish experimentación, recorded by 1645.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The carrying out of experiments to discover something unknown or to test a hypothesis: 1674, in William Petty's Discourse before the Royal Society.^[2] The first edition of the OED dated it to 1675,^[6] Etymonline to the 1670s,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1665–75.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a term of the new experimental science of the late 17th century, for making experiments and for a series of them.^[2][6] From 1877 it was also used more widely for trying out new ideas, methods or activities, and for a single instance of this.^[2] Merriam-Webster also records it as a countable noun, an experiment.^[7]

Timeline

• 1674 – the action or process of carrying out experiments.^[2]
• 1675 – first date in the first edition of the OED.^[6]
• 1877 – the trying out of new ideas, methods or activities; an instance of this.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or process of carrying out experiments, to test a hypothesis or discover something unknown: The new drug is still at the stage of laboratory experimentation.^[8][7][2]
2. The trying out of new ideas, methods or styles: The band's second album shows a taste for experimentation.^[2]
3. An instance of this; an experiment.^[7][2]

Related words

• experiment
• experimental
• experience
• expert

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins