probationary

Rarely pro·ba·tion·al

[proh-bey-shuh-ner-ee]

adjective

1. being or relating to an act, process, or period of testing, as of a person’s character, performance, qualifications, etc..

   All our new hires have probationary status until their three-month review.

2. Law.

   1. relating to probation, a method of dealing with offenders, especially youth guilty of minor crimes or first offenses, by allowing them to go at large under the supervision of a probation officer.

      The judge’s options include sending the minor to a probationary camp for juvenile offenders.

   2. relating to conditional release.

      Clients who have completed the probationary period are discharged from the program and released from their prison sentence.

3. Education.,  being or relating to a trial period or condition of students who are being permitted to redeem academic failures, misconduct, etc..

   Remediation plans for each probationary student must be submitted to the department Chair by midterm.

Other Word Forms

• unprobationary adjective
• unprobational adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of probationary¹

probation ( def. ) + -ary ( def. )

Example Sentences

They only came out of a two-year probationary period this summer.

Read more on BBC

Ortiz also pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy tied to the case and was sentenced to a probationary period of three years on Nov. 19.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The other two will only be activated if he "commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period".

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Ramirez was fired less than a month later — weeks shy of completing her 18-month probationary period — after the department alleged that she lied about her reason for taking time off from work.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

However, he added he was "listening very closely" to employers and workers "to make sure there's a probationary period that gets that balance right".

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Related Words

• empirical 
• preliminary 
• unproved