Trial

How to spell trial

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce trial

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does trial mean?

1. nounA test of the performance, quality, or suitability of something or someone over a period of time.
2. nounA formal examination of evidence before a judge, and often a jury, to decide a legal case.
3. verbTo test something new to see how well it works before adopting it fully.

Trial in a sentence

• noun

  The software is available as a free thirty-day trial.

• noun

  The defendant waited months for the trial to begin.

• verb

  The hospital plans to trial the booking system next month.

• noun

  The new drug is still in the early stages of a clinical trial.

• noun

  Key witnesses gave evidence during the trial.

• verb

  Several schools will trial the new timetable this term.

Where does trial come from?

Language of origin: French

The word came into English from Anglo-Norman French in the late 1400s, where 'trial' was formed from the verb 'trier', meaning 'to try, to pick out, or to sift'. That French verb is the same source as the everyday English word 'try', so a trial is literally a 'trying' of something or someone. The earliest English uses were legal, describing the formal examination of a case before a court, and from there the sense broadened to any test of quality, ability, or endurance. The spelling keeps the French shape with its '-ial' ending, which is the main thing writers have to remember, since the word sounds like it could end in '-ile' or '-iel'. Modern phrases such as 'clinical trial' and 'free trial' show how far the testing sense has travelled from the courtroom.

How the word is built

• tri- (from trier: to try, test)
• -al (noun/verb suffix)