trial

[ trahy-uhl, trahyl ]

noun

1. Law.
   1. the examination before a judicial tribunal of the facts put in issue in a cause, often including issues of law as well as those of fact.
   2. the determination of a person's guilt or innocence by due process of law.
2. the act of trying, testing, or putting to the proof.

   Synonyms: examination

3. test; proof.

   Synonyms: examination

4. an attempt or effort to do something.

   Synonyms: struggle, essay, endeavor

5. a tentative or experimental action in order to ascertain results; experiment.

   Synonyms: examination

6. the state or position of a person or thing being tried or tested; probation.
7. subjection to suffering or grievous experiences; a distressed or painful state:

   comfort in the hour of trial.

   Synonyms: hardship, trouble, sorrow, distress, tribulation, grief

8. an affliction or trouble.
9. a trying, distressing, or annoying thing or person.
10. Ceramics. a piece of ceramic material used to try the heat of a kiln and the progress of the firing of its contents.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or employed in a trial.
2. done or made by way of trial, proof, or experiment.
3. used in testing, experimenting, etc.
4. acting or serving as a sample, experimental specimen, etc.:

   a trial offer.

trial

¹

/ ˈtraɪəl /

noun

1. a grammatical number occurring in some languages for words in contexts where exactly three of their referents are described or referred to
2. modifier relating to or inflected for this number

trial

²

/ ˈtraɪəl; traɪl /

noun

1. 1. the act or an instance of trying or proving; test or experiment
   2. ( as modifier )

      a trial run

2. law
   1. the judicial examination of the issues in a civil or criminal cause by a competent tribunal and the determination of these issues in accordance with the law of the land
   2. the determination of an accused person's guilt or innocence after hearing evidence for the prosecution and for the accused and the judicial examination of the issues involved
   3. ( as modifier )

      trial proceedings

3. an effort or attempt to do something

   we had three trials at the climb

4. trouble or grief
5. an annoying or frustrating person or thing
6. often plural a competition for individuals

   sheepdog trials

7. a motorcycling competition in which the skills of the riders are tested over rough ground
8. ceramics a piece of sample material used for testing the heat of a kiln and its effects
9. on trial
   1. undergoing trial, esp before a court of law
   2. being tested, as before a commitment to purchase

verb

1. tr to test or make experimental use of (something)

   the idea has been trialled in several schools

Derived Forms

• ˈtrialling, noun

Other Words From

• inter·trial adjective
• non·trial noun
• post·trial adjective
• re·trial noun
• self-trial noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of trial¹

First recorded in 1520–30; try + -al ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of trial¹

C19: from tri- + -al ¹

Origin of trial²

C16: from Anglo-French, from trier to try

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. on trial,
   1. undergoing examination before a judicial tribunal.
   2. undergoing a probationary or trial period.

More idioms and phrases containing trial

• on trial

Synonym Study

Trial , experiment , test imply an attempt to find out something or to find out about something. Trial is the general word for a trying of anything: articles sent for ten days' free trial. Experiment is a trial conducted to prove or illustrate the truth or validity of something, or an attempt to discover something new: an experiment in organic chemistry. Test is a more specific word, referring to a trial under approved and fixed conditions, or a final and decisive trial as a conclusion of past experiments: a test of a new type of airplane. See affliction.

Example Sentences

Meanwhile, almost exactly 30 years after the trial, the judge left his home to board a steamboat and was never heard from again.

From The Daily Beast

Seventy-two adults between the ages of 18 and 50 are participating in the trial, led by the pediatrics department at Oxford.

From The Daily Beast

The next phase of the trial consists of vaccinating Ebola workers on the front lines.

From The Daily Beast

He lambasts the case as without evidence, an unfair trial, and damaging for the American reputation.

From The Daily Beast

While in pre-trial detention, Krivov undertook two hunger strikes.

From The Daily Beast

The challenge was accepted and the hay-wagon driven round and the trial commenced.

From Project Gutenberg

No doubt it will be a trial for Miss Rowan, but I think she would feel better to have her father buried here.

From Project Gutenberg

He consented to the trial, receiving Planner's solemn promise that, in the event of failure, it should be the last.

From Project Gutenberg

British parliament passed an act for transporting Americans to England for trial.

From Project Gutenberg

Receiving small encouragement in England, he applied to sugar-cane planters to give his engines a trial in the West Indies.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• exploratory
• preliminary