1.Law Examination of evidence and applicable law by a competent tribunal to determine the issue of specified charges or claims. 2a. The act or process of testing, trying, or putting to the proof: a trial of one's faith.b. An instance of such testing, especially as part of a series of tests or experiments: a clinical trial of a drug.3. An effort or attempt: succeeded on the third trial.4. A state of pain or anguish that tests patience, endurance, or belief: “the fiery trial through which we pass” (Abraham Lincoln). 5. A trying, troublesome, or annoying person or thing: The child was a trial to his parents.6. A preliminary competition or test to determine qualifications, as in a sport.
ADJECTIVE:
1. Of, relating to, or used in a trial. 2. Attempted or advanced on a provisional or experimental basis: a trial separation.3. Made or done in the course of a trial or test.
IDIOMS:
on trial In the process of being tried, as in a court of law. trial by fire A test of one's abilities, especially the ability to perform well under pressure.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English triall, a testing, from Anglo-Norman trial, from trier, to sort, try.
SYNONYMS:
trial, affliction, crucible, ordeal, tribulation These nouns denote distress or suffering that severely tests resiliency and character: no consolation in their hour of trial; the affliction of a bereaved family; the crucible of revolution; the ordeal of being an innocent murder suspect; a time of relentless tribulation. See also synonyms at burden1.
tr
l, tr
