trial

[trahy-uhl, trahyl]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR trial ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Law.

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.
the determination of a person's guilt or innocence by due process of law.

the act of trying, testing, or putting to the proof.

test; proof.

an attempt or effort to do something.

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

the state or position of a person or thing being tried or tested; probation.

subjection to suffering or grievous experiences; a distressed or painful state: comfort in the hour of trial.

an affliction or trouble.

a trying, distressing, or annoying thing or person.

Ceramics. a piece of ceramic material used to try the heat of a kiln and the progress of the firing of its contents.

adjective

of, relating to, or employed in a trial.

done or made by way of trial, proof, or experiment.

used in testing, experimenting, etc.

acting or serving as a sample, experimental specimen, etc.: a trial offer.

Idioms

on trial,

undergoing examination before a judicial tribunal.
undergoing a probationary or trial period.

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 for trial

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR trial ON THESAURUS.COM

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.

Trial, The

noun

(German Der Prozess), a novel (1925) by Franz Kafka.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for trial

preliminary, exploratory, experiment, testing, investigation, examination, struggle, probation, effort, case, litigation, tribunal, suit, prosecution, hearing, contest, arraignment, action, indictment, lawsuit

Examples from the Web for trial

Contemporary Examples of trial

Meanwhile, almost exactly 30 years after the trial, the judge left his home to board a steamboat and was never heard from again.
New York’s Most Tragic Ghost Loves Minimalist Swedish Fashion
Nina Strochlic
January 8, 2015
Seventy-two adults between the ages of 18 and 50 are participating in the trial, led by the pediatrics department at Oxford.
The Race for the Ebola Vaccine
Abby Haglage
January 7, 2015
The next phase of the trial consists of vaccinating Ebola workers on the front lines.
The Race for the Ebola Vaccine
Abby Haglage
January 7, 2015
They added that the shutdown was temporary and they plan to resume the trial in January.
Uh Oh: Ebola Vaccine Trials Stop
Leigh Cowart
December 19, 2014
Just a month from that date, he now no longer believes that to be realistic, and will no longer estimate a timeline for the trial.
Prosecutors Have No Idea When 9/11 Mastermind’s Trial Will Start
Tim Mak
December 17, 2014

Historical Examples of trial

This is the hope that beckons us onward in this century of trial.
United States Presidents' Inaugural Speeches
Various
And then, when the cover was removed, came the time of trial to your correspondent.
Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 6, May 7, 1870
Various
We would advise all who are about to begin the study of languages to give it a trial.
Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 6, May 7, 1870
Various
It is true that he hath not come to trial, but the trial hath come to him.
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle
You see, Burke, you couldn't in a trial even repeat what he told you.
Within the Law
Marvin Dana

British Dictionary definitions for trial

trial

noun

the act or an instance of trying or proving; test or experiment
(as modifier)a trial run

law

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
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
(as modifier)trial proceedings

an effort or attempt to do somethingwe had three trials at the climb

trouble or grief

an annoying or frustrating person or thing

(often plural) a competition for individualssheepdog trials

a motorcycling competition in which the skills of the riders are tested over rough ground

ceramics a piece of sample material used for testing the heat of a kiln and its effects

on trial

undergoing trial, esp before a court of law
being tested, as before a commitment to purchase

verb trials, trialling or trialled

(tr) to test or make experimental use of (something)the idea has been trialled in several schools

Derived Formstrialling, noun

Word Origin for trial

C16: from Anglo-French, from trier to try

trial

noun grammar

a grammatical number occurring in some languages for words in contexts where exactly three of their referents are described or referred to

(modifier) relating to or inflected for this number

Word Origin for trial

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 trial

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.

Idioms and Phrases with trial

trial

In addition to the idioms beginning with trial

trial and error
trial balloon
trial by fire
trials and tribulations

also see:

on trial