perturb

/pərˈtɜrb/
verb
  1. To make someone worried or anxious; to disturb their calmness.
    • The strange noise from the attic perturbed the family.
    • Don't let small problems perturb you; everything will be fine.
    • It perturbed her that he hadn't called by midnight.
  2. To cause a system, process, or object to change from its normal or expected state, especially in science or mathematics.
    • Adding a small amount of heat can perturb the chemical equilibrium.
    • The gravitational pull of the moon perturbs the orbit of satellites.
    • The experiment was designed to perturb the magnetic field and observe the results.
Antonyms