ordeal

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   A long, hard and painful experience that puts someone's endurance to the test.

   Grammar: Countable: an ordeal, ordeals.

   Patterns

   • an ordeal for someone
   • go through an ordeal

   The hikers described being lost in the snow as a terrifying ordeal.

   Giving evidence in court was an ordeal for the young witness.

   After the long ordeal, the family finally got home.

2. 2nouncountablespecialist

   In history, a trial in which a person's guilt was decided by surviving a test such as fire or water.

   Grammar: Used in historical writing: trial by ordeal.

   Patterns

   • trial by ordeal

   Medieval courts sometimes used trial by ordeal instead of witnesses.

   The historian wrote about the ordeal of hot iron.

   Churches eventually forbade the ordeal.

Word forms

Common combinations

go through an ordeal

She went through an ordeal to finish the marathon.

terrible ordeal

The kidnapping was a terrible ordeal for everyone.

survive an ordeal

The climbers survived their ordeal in the storm.

painful ordeal

The recovery was a painful ordeal.

ordeal of waiting

The ordeal of waiting for test results was hard.

Synonyms and how they differ

trial

Trial suggests a hard test of patience or character, while ordeal emphasizes lasting suffering.

nightmare

Nightmare is more informal and often exaggerates how bad something was.

hardship

Hardship focuses on difficult living conditions over time, not a single experience.

torment

Torment suggests intense suffering, often mental or deliberately caused.

Opposites

Word family

ordeals noun

plural form

trial by ordeal noun

a medieval method of judging guilt

Commonly confused: ordeal or ordinance? ordeal or ordeal?

Practice

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