# experimental
## English
### Etymology

From experiment +‎ -al.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɪkspɛɹəˈmɛntəl/, /ɪkˌspɛɹəˈmɛntəl/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛntəl

### Adjective

experimental (comparative more experimental, superlative most experimental)
* Pertaining to or founded on experiment.
    Chemistry is an experimental science.
* (sciences) Serving to be experimented upon; used in an experiment.
** 1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, Folio Society, published 2016, page 541:Brown-Séquard, noting that Addison's disease involved the failure of the adrenal (or suprarenal) glands near the kidneys, removed them in experimental animals, and thus proved they were necessary for life […].
* Serving as an experiment; serving to experiment.
    his experimental band
    an experimental engine
** 1954 November, Frank Hewitt, “The First Decade of British 4-6-0 Locomotives—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 747:In its sixty-year history here, some 4,170 engines of the 4-6-0 type have been constructed. This is the vast sequel of that bold experimental step of the Highland Railway in 1894.
** 2012 March-April, Colin Allen, “Do I See What You See?”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 26 April 2012, page 168:Numerous experimental tests and other observations have been offered in favor of animal mind reading, and although many scientists are skeptical, others assert that humans are not the only species capable of representing what others do and don’t perceive and know.
* Experiential, empirical.
    experimental knowledge

#### Derived terms

* experimental aesthetics
* experimental design
* experimentalise
* experimentalism
* experimentalist
* experimentality
* experimentalize
* experimentally
* experimentalness
* experimental probability
* interexperimental
* intraexperimental
* nonexperimental
* postexperimental
* preexperimental
* quasiexperimental
* sexperimental
* unexperimental

#### Translations
### Noun

experimental (plural experimentals)
* The subject of an experiment.

### See also

* control

### References

* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “experimental”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

## Catalan
### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [əks.pə.ɾi.mənˈtal]
* IPA: (Valencia) [eks.pe.ɾi.menˈtal]

### Adjective

experimental m or f (masculine and feminine plural experimentals)
* experimental

#### Derived terms

* experimentalisme
* experimentalista
* experimentalment

#### Related terms

* experiment
* experimentar

### Further reading

* “experimental” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “experimental”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “experimental” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “experimental” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## French
### Adjective

experimental (feminine experimentale, masculine plural experimentaux, feminine plural experimentales)
* Obsolete spelling of expérimental.

## Galician
### Adjective

experimental m or f (plural experimentais)
* experimental

#### Related terms

* experimento

### Further reading

* “experimental”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

## Interlingua
### Adjective

experimental (not comparable)
* experimental

#### Related terms

* experimento

## Portuguese
### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /is.pe.ɾi.mẽˈtaw/ [is.pe.ɾi.mẽˈtaʊ̯], /es.pe.ɾi.mẽˈtaw/ [es.pe.ɾi.mẽˈtaʊ̯]
* (Brazil) IPA: /is.pe.ɾi.mẽˈtaw/ [is.pe.ɾi.mẽˈtaʊ̯], /es.pe.ɾi.mẽˈtaw/ [es.pe.ɾi.mẽˈtaʊ̯]
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /iʃ.pe.ɾi.mẽˈtaw/ [iʃ.pe.ɾi.mẽˈtaʊ̯], /eʃ.pe.ɾi.mẽˈtaw/ [eʃ.pe.ɾi.mẽˈtaʊ̯]
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /es.pe.ɾi.mẽˈtaw/ [es.pe.ɾi.mẽˈtaʊ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /(i)ʃ.pɨ.ɾi.mẽˈtal/ [(i)ʃ.pɨ.ɾi.mẽˈtaɫ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /(i)ʃ.pɨ.ɾi.mẽˈtal/ [(i)ʃ.pɨ.ɾi.mẽˈtaɫ]
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /(i)ʃ.pɨ.ɾi.mẽˈta.li/
* Rhymes: -al, -aw
* Hyphenation: ex‧pe‧ri‧men‧tal

### Adjective

experimental m or f (plural experimentais)
* experimental (of, pertaining to or being an experiment)

### Further reading

* “experimental”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from French expérimental, from Latin experimentalis. By surface analysis, experiment +‎ -al.

### Adjective

experimental m or n (feminine singular experimentală, masculine plural experimentali, feminine and neuter plural experimentale)
* experiential

#### Declension
## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /eɡspeɾimenˈtal/ [eɣ̞s.pe.ɾi.mẽn̪ˈt̪al]
* Rhymes: -al
* Syllabification: ex‧pe‧ri‧men‧tal

### Adjective

experimental m or f (masculine and feminine plural experimentales)
* experimental

#### Derived terms

* experimentalismo
* experimentalmente

#### Related terms

* experimento

### Further reading

* “experimental”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10