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trial

[trahy-uhl, trahyl]
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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.
  3. test; proof.
  4. an attempt or effort to do something.
  5. a tentative or experimental action in order to ascertain results; experiment.
  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.
  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.
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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.
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Idioms
  1. on trial,
    1. undergoing examination before a judicial tribunal.
    2. undergoing a probationary or trial period.
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Origin of trial

First recorded in 1520–30; try + -al2
Related formsin·ter·tri·al, adjectivenon·tri·al, nounpost·tri·al, adjectivere·tri·al, nounself-tri·al, noun
Can be confusedtrail trial

Synonyms

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2, 3, 5. examination. 4. endeavor, essay, struggle. 7. grief, tribulation, distress, sorrow, trouble, hardship.

Synonym study

2, 3, 5. 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. 7. See affliction.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for on trial

trial1

noun
    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 somethingwe had three trials at the climb
  4. trouble or grief
  5. an annoying or frustrating person or thing
  6. (often plural) a competition for individualssheepdog 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
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verb trials, trialling or trialled
  1. (tr) to test or make experimental use of (something)the idea has been trialled in several schools
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Derived Formstrialling, noun

Word Origin

C16: from Anglo-French, from trier to try

trial2

noun grammar
  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
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Word Origin

C19: from tri- + -al 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for on trial

trial

n.

mid-15c., "act or process of testing," from Anglo-French trial, noun formed from triet "to try" (see try). Sense of "examining and deciding a case in a court of law" is first recorded 1570s; extended to any ordeal by 1590s. As an adjectival phrase, trial-and-error is recorded from 1806. Trial balloon (1939) is congnate of French ballon d'essai.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with on trial

on trial

1

In the process of being tried, especially in a court of law. For example, He would be put on trial for the murder of his wife. [Early 1700s]

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2

As a test of something, on probation, as in They said we could take the vacuum cleaner on trial and return it if it was too noisy. [Early 1700s]

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trial

In addition to the idioms beginning with trial

  • trial and error
  • trial balloon
  • trial by fire
  • trials and tribulations

also see:

  • on trial
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.