experimental

Pluralexperimentals

1. 1
   adjective

   Relating to or founded on experiment.

   Strong experimental evidence supports the existence of gravitational waves.

   She chose experimental physics over theory because she loved working with her hands.

   Similarempirical

   Oppositetheoretical

2. 2
   adjective

   Serving as an experiment or as a means of experimenting; done as a trial of something new.

   The airline is running an experimental boarding program to cut delays.

   His experimental approach to filmmaking divided critics but won him a devoted following.

   Similarinnovative, pilot, exploratory

   Oppositeconventional, traditional

3. 3
   adjective

   Used in or subjected to an experiment; serving as the material or subject on which an experiment is performed.

   The experimental group received the vaccine, while the control group received a placebo.

   Each experimental plot was planted with the modified seed and watered on the same schedule.

   Note

   A laboratory word for what an experiment is done to, not for the experiment itself. Roy Porter's The Greatest Benefit to Mankind (1997) describes Brown-Séquard removing the adrenal glands of experimental animals. The animals are the material, and the operation is the trial. Set beside a control group, the experimental group is the one that receives the treatment. Compare the "trial" meaning, where an experimental engine is itself the thing being tried.

4. 4
   adjective

   Based on what is known through direct experience or observation rather than on theory or reasoning alone.

   The old preacher spoke of an experimental faith, rooted in what he himself had felt and lived.

   Her understanding of poverty was experimental, formed through years of hardship rather than study.

   Similarexperiential, empirical

   Oppositetheoretical

   Note

   Here experiment means simply experience: knowledge gained by living through something rather than by setting up a test. That makes a phrase like experimental knowledge genuinely two-faced, because it can also be read in the laboratory sense. Let context carry the meaning, or reach for experiential or empirical when a misreading would matter.

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A person, animal, or other subject on which an experiment is performed.

   Each experimental was housed separately to prevent cross-contamination.

   Researchers compared outcomes between the experimentals and the controls after six weeks.

   Similarsubject

   Oppositecontrol

   Note

   The adjective turned into a countable noun, with the plural experimentals. It belongs to research writing, where it usually comes paired with controls: the experimentals receive the treatment, and the controls are left alone so the effect can be measured. In most other prose, an experimental subject or a test subject reads more naturally.

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