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control experiment
noun
plural control experiments
: an experiment in which all variable factors have been kept constant and which is used as a standard of comparison to the experimental component in a controlled experiment
Examples of control experiment in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The lab uses the microbes to study what happens to DNA during cell division, but even in the control experiments, none of the yeast survived.
—Bymolly Herring, science.org, 31 July 2024
In a control experiment using OpenAI’s GPT-2 text generator first released in 2019 to teach GPT-4, the more recent system became less capable and similar to the inferior system.
—Will Knight, WIRED, 14 Dec. 2023
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Word History
First Known Use
1848, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of control experiment was
in 1848
Dictionary Entries Near control experiment
Cite this Entry
“Control experiment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/control%20experiment. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
Kids Definition
control experiment
noun
: an experiment in which all variable factors have been kept constant and which is used as a standard of comparison to the experiment component in a controlled experiment
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