trial: Meaning and Definition of

tri•al

Pronunciation: (trī'ul, trīl), [key]
— n.
    1. 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.
    2. the determination of a person's guilt or innocence by due process of law.
  1. the act of trying, testing, or putting to the proof.
  2. test; proof.
  3. an attempt or effort to do something.
  4. a tentative or experimental action in order to ascertain results; experiment.
  5. the state or position of a person or thing being tried or tested; probation.
  6. subjection to suffering or grievous experiences; a distressed or painful state: comfort in the hour of trial.
  7. an affliction or trouble.
  8. a trying, distressing, or annoying thing or person.
  9. a piece of ceramic material used to try the heat of a kiln and the progress of the firing of its contents.
    1. undergoing examination before a judicial tribunal.
    2. undergoing a probationary or trial period.
—adj.
  1. of, pertaining to, or employed in a trial.
  2. done or made by way of trial, proof, or experiment.
  3. used in testing, experimenting, etc.
  4. acting or serving as a sample, experimental specimen, etc.: a trial offer.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
See also: