trial

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable or uncountablelegal

   A formal hearing in a court where a judge or jury listens to evidence and decides whether someone is guilty or how a dispute should be settled.

   Grammar: Countable for a particular case (a long trial), uncountable after on or at (on trial, at trial).

   Patterns

   • stand trial for something
   • be on trial
   • bring someone to trial

   The trial lasted six weeks and ended with an unanimous verdict.

   He refused to say anything until his trial began.

   Two of the officers will stand trial for fraud next spring.

2. 2nouncountable

   A test of something new, such as a medicine, product or method, to find out how well it works before it is widely used.

   Grammar: Often appears in compounds: a clinical trial, a trial run.

   Patterns

   • a trial of something
   • on trial
   • do a trial of something

   The clinic is running a trial of a new asthma inhaler.

   We took the printer on a two-week trial before buying it.

   Early trials showed the battery lasted twice as long as expected.

3. 3nouncountableformal

   Something or someone that causes worry, strain or annoyance, especially over a long period.

   Grammar: Often plural in the fixed pairing trials and tribulations.

   Patterns

   • a trial to someone
   • the trials of something

   The long commute was a daily trial for her.

   Their toddler's endless questions were a trial to the whole family.

   He wrote a funny book about the trials of home renovation.

Word forms

Common combinations

stand trial

The mayor will stand trial next month on corruption charges.

fair trial

Every defendant has the right to a fair trial.

clinical trial

She joined a clinical trial for a new heart drug.

trial period

The software comes with a thirty-day trial period.

trial and error

He learned to bake bread by trial and error.

Synonyms and how they differ

hearing

A hearing can be a short, partial session about one issue, while a trial decides the whole case.

test

Test is broader and quicker; a trial suggests a longer, more formal period of checking something in real conditions.

ordeal

Ordeal stresses suffering you go through once, whereas a trial in the third sense is an ongoing annoyance.

Word family

try verb

to attempt or test something

trying adjective

annoying or hard to put up with

retrial noun

a second court trial of the same case

pretrial adjective

happening before a trial begins

Commonly confused: trial or tribunal?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “trial”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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