trial
Americannoun
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trials
plural
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Law.
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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.
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the determination of a person's guilt or innocence by due process of law.
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the act of trying, testing, or putting to the proof.
- Synonyms:
- examination
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test; proof.
- Synonyms:
- examination
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an attempt or effort to do something.
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a tentative or experimental action in order to ascertain results; experiment.
- Synonyms:
- examination
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the state or position of a person or thing being tried or tested; probation.
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subjection to suffering or grievous experiences; a distressed or painful state.
comfort in the hour of trial.
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an affliction or trouble.
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a trying, distressing, or annoying thing or person.
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Ceramics. a piece of ceramic material used to try the heat of a kiln and the progress of the firing of its contents.
adjective
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of, relating to, or employed in a trial.
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done or made by way of trial, proof, or experiment.
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used in testing, experimenting, etc.
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acting or serving as a sample, experimental specimen, etc..
a trial offer.
idioms
noun
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the act or an instance of trying or proving; test or experiment
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( as modifier )
a trial run
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law
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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
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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
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( as modifier )
trial proceedings
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an effort or attempt to do something
we had three trials at the climb
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trouble or grief
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an annoying or frustrating person or thing
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(often plural) a competition for individuals
sheepdog trials
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a motorcycling competition in which the skills of the riders are tested over rough ground
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ceramics a piece of sample material used for testing the heat of a kiln and its effects
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undergoing trial, esp before a court of law
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being tested, as before a commitment to purchase
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verb
noun
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a grammatical number occurring in some languages for words in contexts where exactly three of their referents are described or referred to
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(modifier) relating to or inflected for this number
Usage
What does trial mean? In general, a trial is a test or an experiment. Most commonly, the word refers to a criminal trial in a courtroom before a judge and jury. It is also often used in a scientific context to refer to things like clinical trials and drug trials. It can also refer to a hardship. It is commonly used in phrases like trial and error and trial by fire. It is most commonly used as a noun but it can also be used as an adjective and a verb. Example: There are 500 people participating in our research trial for a new heart medication.
Synonym Usage
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. See affliction.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of trial
Explanation
When you run a series of tests on something, it's called a trial. If you invent a computer game and want to run it through a trial before releasing it, you might hire a bunch of teenagers to play it. A trial is also a court hearing to legally determine the result of a particular case. If your cousin is arrested for stealing her neighbor's dog, she may be put on trial. This term can also be used more generically, especially to talk about something being tried in the court of public opinion. The fate of music education is on trial in many school districts facing budget cuts.
Vocabulary lists containing trial
ACT Vocabulary List
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Word Generation Science - Preparing a Scientific Investigation
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Engineering - Introductory
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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.
See Examples For:
The high-profile trial of the Manson family made Manson and several of his followers some of the most infamous criminals of the 20th century.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Following a trial involving 56 witnesses, a jury found Malcolm unanimously guilty of 12 charges.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Rather than spend months fighting over whether the merger should remain frozen while the case proceeded, Paramount agreed to keep the companies apart and pushed to get directly to a trial on the merits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
That case is ongoing and a jury trial is scheduled to begin April 17, 2028, according to a court order filed Monday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
The rapid conviction, sentencing, and execution of the Lincoln assassination conspirators concluded the trial that had lasted through May and June.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
"An important next step will be to design clinical trials to test whether short-term dietary changes can improve clinical outcomes in patients."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026
Jay Merchant, Jonathan Mathew, Philippe Moryoussef, Alex Pabon, Colin Bermingham were convicted following trials for manipulating the interest rates used for loans between banks.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
The final room is dedicated to the Nuremberg trials, where Nazi officials were tried and convicted between November 1945 and October 1946.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
Earlier in his career he reported for Law360 on litigation and criminal trials in Manhattan federal court.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Eric’s father was the clerk of the county court and often passed on news of particularly juicy trials to Eric, whose popularity increased in proportion.
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
