pilot study

British

noun

a small-scale experiment or set of observations undertaken to decide how and whether to launch a full-scale project

"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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

She was part of a two-person pilot study on the new therapeutic approach published in 2022.

From Slate

To explore how the preclinical findings might apply to patients, the team conducted a small pilot study with women receiving paclitaxel for gynecologic cancers.

From Science Daily

A pilot study soon to appear in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition and involving 95 participants found that three popular Indian mango varities - Safeda, Dasheri and Langra - produced similar or lower glycemic responses than white bread over two hours of glucose testing.

From BBC

Tests conducted in the pilot study, which involved 20 rhinos, confirmed that the radioactive material was not harmful to the animals.

From BBC

Though Loyal reported “no clinically significant adverse effects” in their pilot study that was submitted to the FDA for preliminary efficacy acknowledgement, it was only 48 dogs over the course of three months.

From Slate

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023