ordeal

American  

[awr-deel, -dee-uhl, awr-deel] / ɔrˈdil, -ˈdi əl, ˈɔr dil /

noun

• ordeals
  plural

1. 

   any extremely severe or trying test, experience, or trial.

2. a primitive form of trial to determine guilt or innocence by subjecting the accused person to fire, poison, or other serious danger, the result being regarded as a divine or preternatural judgment.

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ordeal British  

/ ɔːˈdiːl /

noun

1. a severe or trying experience

2. history a method of trial in which the guilt or innocence of an accused person was determined by subjecting him to physical danger, esp by fire or water. The outcome was regarded as an indication of divine judgment

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ordeals
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ordeal

before 950; Middle English ordal, Old English ordāl; cognate with Dutch oordeel, German Urteil. See a- ³, dole ¹

Explanation

An ordeal is something difficult or painful to go through. Something kind of hard like taking a test can be an ordeal, but often an ordeal is a serious and long-lasting event, like an illness or tragedy. When you go through an ordeal you have to deal with something tough. Waiting for someone you love to recover from an injury and come home from the hospital is an ordeal — for both of you — and being a victim of a crime is a different kind of ordeal. You can use this noun in an exaggerated way, too, as when you endure the long ordeal of cleaning the garage on a sunny weekend.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ordeal ordeals

Might the armed forces not survive the ordeal of Vietnam?

From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026

But no, this turns out to be wrong because very often people who are very vulnerable, very low income just can’t make it through the ordeal.

From Slate ● Sep. 19, 2026

In a joint statement with stylist Simone Harouche, the reality star thanked the French justice system and said she hoped to move past the harrowing ordeal and continue to heal.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026

The segment, which aired on Sunday, is the first time one of the aviators involved in the April incident over Iran has spoken out about their ordeal.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

Nonetheless, throughout the ordeal, the suffragists had stayed calm and handled themselves with dignity.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

Det Supt Eleanor Welsh, of South Yorkshire Police, said: "These women have waited three or four decades for these verdicts and bravely relived their ordeals in a bid to secure justice."

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

In the climatic entry in Jón Kalman Stefánsson’s Icelandic trilogy about a boy’s passage through ordeals on land and sea, the battered young hero takes refuge in a village.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

Passengers touching down at airports in Australia, France, Germany, India, Russia, Taiwan and beyond told of sleepless nights and days-long ordeals to get out of the Middle East when war erupted.

From Barron's ● Mar. 4, 2026

The trauma, harrowing ordeals or deaths that are typically depicted onscreen, and that audiences have come to expect from queer TV and films, were refreshingly absent.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 18, 2026

It reminded the Friedmans of their ordeals with Fabyan, and they resolved never to get into such a situation again.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

Related Words

• agony
• anguish
• calamity
• difficulty
• nightmare
• torment
• torture
• trial