trial

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹaɪəl/, [tɹaɪəl]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪəl
• Hyphenation: tri‧al

From Middle English trial, triall, from Anglo-Norman trial, triel, from trier (“to pick out, cull”) + -al. More at English try.

trial (plural trials)

1. An occasion on which a person or thing is tested to find out how well they perform or how suitable they are.

   Synonym: test

   • c. 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest‎^[1], Act IV, Scene 1:

     all thy vexations / Were but my trials of thy love and thou / Hast strangely stood the test here

   • 1847, Anne Brontë, chapter 3, in Agnes Grey‎^[2], London: Thomas Cautley Newby, page 51:

     had my powers been less limited, I might have enforced obedience; but as it was, it was but a trial of strength between her and me, in which she generally came off victorious

   • 2010, Nadifa Mohamed, Black Mamba Boy‎^[3], Harper Collins, page 65:

     Jama saw the sweaty, smelly work as a kind of test that, if passed, would entitle him to see his father, a trial of his worth as a son and as a man.

   1. The testing of a product or procedure.

      They will perform the trials for the new equipment next week.

   2. (medicine, sciences, research) A research study to test the effectiveness and safety of a drug, medical procedure, etc.

      Synonym: clinical trial

      A randomized, controlled trial (RCT).

   3. An event in which athletes’ or animals’ abilities are tested as they compete for a place on a team, or to move on to the next level of a championship, for example.

      soccer trials; sheepdog trials

   4. (ceramics) A piece of ware used to test the heat of a kiln.
   5. (UK) An internal examination set by Eton College.
   6. (archaic) An occasion on which armies or individuals meet in combat.
      • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1‎^[4], Act V, Scene 1:

        In both your armies there is many a soul / Shall pay full dearly for this encounter, / If once they join in trial.

2. A meeting or series of meetings in a court of law at which evidence is presented to a judge (and sometimes a jury) to allow them to decide on a legal matter (especially whether an accused person is guilty of a crime).

   Synonym: court case

   If you are convicted at trial, you have the right to file an appeal.

   He was charged with war crimes and brought to trial before the International Tribunal.

   The journalists have been held in custody for three years without trial.

   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:

     as she hath / Been publicly accused, so shall she have / A just and open trial

   • 1847, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline‎^[5], Boston: Ticknor, Part 3, p. 42:

     She, after form of trial condemned to die on the scaffold, / Patiently met her doom at the foot of the statue of Justice.

   • 1960, Harper Lee, chapter 20, in To Kill a Mockingbird‎^[6], Philadelphia: Lippincott, page 215:

     […] this case should never have come to trial.

   • 2020, Charles Yu, Interior Chinatown, New York: Pantheon, Act VI,

     Your Honor, we object to all of this. The whole thing. This mock trial. The entire justice system is rigged against my client.

3. A difficult or annoying experience or person; (especially religion) such an experience seen as a test of faith and piety.

   That boy was a trial to his parents.

   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress‎^[7], London: Nath. Ponder, page 172:

     That they are Cowards, many have said, but few have found it so in the time of Trial.

   • 1818, Mary Shelley, chapter 5, in Frankenstein‎^[8], volume 1, London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, page 120:

     Poor Justine was very ill; but other trials were reserved for her.

   • 1908, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter 12, in Anne of Green Gables‎^[9], Toronto: Ryerson Press, page 108:

     I’m afraid I’m going to be a dreadful trial to you. Maybe you’d better send me back to the asylum.

   • 1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, chapter 4, in The Return of the King‎^[10], New York: Ballantine Books, published 1973, page 98:

     […] I’m not used […] to waiting hungry on others while they eat. It is a sore trial for a hobbit, that.

   • 2008, Tan Twan Eng, The Gift of Rain‎^[11], New York: Weinstein Books, Book 2, Chapter 13, p. 365:

     You must be strong now, for your greatest trials are still ahead.

4. (archaic) The action of trying (to do) something, especially more than once. (This sense is still current in the expression trial and error.)

   Synonyms: attempt, try

   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe‎^[12], London: W. Taylor, page 123:

     Finding my first Seed did not grow, which I easily imagin’d was by the Drought, I sought for a moister Piece of Ground to make another Trial in,

   • 1839, Charles Dickens, chapter 28, in Oliver Twist‎^[13], volume 2, London: Richard Bentley, page 144:

     He summoned up all his strength for one last trial, and bent his faltering steps towards [the house].

   • 1913, Willa Cather, chapter 1, in O Pioneers!‎^[14], Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 18:

     After a dozen trials he succeeded in lighting the lantern,

   • 1950, Rachel Carson, chapter 1, in The Sea Around Us‎^[15], New York: Oxford University Press, published 1961, page 7:

     Before the first living cell was created, there may have been many trials and failures.

trial (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to a trial or test.
2. Attempted on a provisional or experimental basis.

trial (third-person singular simple present trials, present participle (UK) trialling or (US) trialing, simple past and past participle (UK) trialled or (US) trialed)

1. (transitive) To carry out a series of tests on (a new product, procedure etc.) before marketing or implementing it.

   The warning system was extensively trialed before being fitted to all our vehicles.

   • 2020 April 22, “Network News: Bombardier resumes work at Derby Litchurch Lane”, in Rail, page 9:

     In the week beginning April 6, the company began trialling the new processes - these include greater spacing, split shifts, additional safety requirements and washing facilities.

2. (transitive) To try out (a new player) in a sports team.

   The team trialled a new young goalkeeper in Saturday's match, with mixed results.

From Latin tri- (stem of trēs (“three”)) + -al, on the pattern of dual.

trial (not comparable)

1. Characterized by having three (usually equivalent) components.
2. Triple.
3. (grammar) Pertaining to a language form referring to three of something, like people. (See Ambai language for an example.)

   Coordinate terms: singular, dual, plural

   No language has a trial number unless it has a dual.

• triality

trial (plural trials)

1. (grammar) The trial number.

• (grammatical numbers) grammatical number; singular, dual, trial, quadral, quintal, paucal, plural ^{(Category: en:Grammar)}

• TRALI, Trail, irtal, litra, trail

Borrowed from English trial.

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tri‧al

trial m (plural trials, diminutive trialtje n)

1. cross with small but sturdy and very versatile motorcycles, cars or bicycles

Unadapted borrowing from English trial.

trial m (invariable)

1. (sports) trials (motorcycle etc.)

• altri, latri, tarli

trier (“to try such as in a court of law”) +‎ -al.

trial oblique singular, m (oblique plural triaus or triax or trials, nominative singular triaus or triax or trials, nominative plural trial)

1. trial (legal procedure)

• due to lack of attestation, the precise meaning is uncertain

• → English: trial

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (trial)
• trial on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub