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trial Definition

trial (trī′əl, trīl)

noun

    1. the act or process of trying, testing, or putting to the proof; test
    2. a testing of qualifications, attainments, or progress; probation
    3. experimental treatment or operation; experiment
    1. the fact or state of being tried by suffering, temptation, etc.
    2. a hardship, suffering, etc. that tries one's endurance
    3. a person or thing that is a source of annoyance or irritation
  3. a formal examination of the facts of a case by a court of law to decide the validity of a charge or claim
  4. an attempt; endeavor; effort

Etymology: Anglo-Fr < trier: see try

adjective

  1. of a trial or trials
  2. made, done, or used for the purpose of trying, testing, etc.

trial Idioms

on trial

in the process of being tried

trial Synonyms

trial

modif.

tentative, test, trial balloon, preliminary, probationary, temporary; see also experimental.

trial Synonyms

trial

n.

  1. An effort to learn the truth

    analysis, test, examination; see experiment 1.

  2. A case at law

    suit, lawsuit, fair hearing, hearing, action, case, contest, indictment, legal proceedings, claim, cross-examination, litigation, counterclaim, replevin, arraignment, prosecution, citation, court action, judicial contest, seizure, assumpsit, bill of divorce, habeas corpus, court-martial, impeachment, rap*, try*, court clash*.

  3. An ordeal

    suffering, severe test, ordeal, crucible, tribulation, affliction, trying experience, misfortune, heavy blow, annoyance, bother, irritant, nuisance, headache*, pain*; see also affliction. See syn. study at affliction.

on trial

  1. in litigation, at law, before the bar, before a judge, before a jury, indicted, being tried.

  2. on a trial basis, on approval, for a trial period, being tested, under consideration, not yet accepted;

trial Law Definition

n

  1. A formal judicial examination of issues of law or fact between parties by a court with jurisdiction in such cases.
  2. A formal adversarial proceeding to hear evidence and decide legal issues and claims. Trials are covered by established rules of courtroom procedure as well as rules of evidence.
bench trial
A trial held in front of a judge, but without the presence of a jury. Both parties must waive their constitutional rights to a trial by jury. The judge then gets to decide matters of fact as well as matters of law.
trial by jury
See jury trial.
trial de novo
A new trial, usually ordered by an appellate court that retries both matters of fact and law and proceeds as if the original trial had never taken place. See also mistrial and retrial.
trial Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • randomize: Randomized trial of oral aspirin for chronic venous leg ulcers.
  • randomize: Assessing the quality of reports of randomized clinical trials: is blinding necessary?
  • placebo-control: They identified 20 randomized, placebo-controlled double-blind trials of immunotherapy for asthma between 1966 to 1990; English language reports only were used.
  • await: These men are either in prison, on parole or awaiting trial.
  • conduct: The Center will conduct clinical trials into new anti-cancer drugs.
  • undergo: These photographs are mainly of the ships undergoing sea trials.

Adjective modifier

  • clinical: A clinical trial of the effects of dietary patterns on blood pressure.
  • controlled: Methodology Controlled trial, using repeated alternate allocation of time periods to the two study groups.
  • double-blind: However, one double-blind treatment trial has been conducted in bipolar disorder.
  • fair: Article 6, the right to a fair trial, is breached.
  • preliminary: The case was listed for a preliminary trial on liability issues.
  • criminal: She has experience of handling long serious criminal trials in the Crown Court.

Modifies a noun

  • judge: Essentially, the House of Lords decision in A requires trial judges to read s. 41 in a manner compatible with Art.
  • version: You can try free 10 days trial version of the package.
  • lawyer: Do business with aaas has offered you'd better be the trial lawyers.

Preposition: by

  • jury: Conservatives: weakening of trial by jury is not the way to cut crime.

Noun used with modifier

  • jury: At the initial phase only cases imposing either death penalty or maximum imprisonment term will be handled by jury trial.
  • multicentre: It is not feasible to conduct large, highly expensive multicentre trials of every modification to platelet storage.
  • farm-scale: What we need now is action to prevent the current farm-scale trials and test sites contaminating crops and honey.
  • witch: An hysterical subject, like the Salem witch trials of 1892, requires hysterical treatment up to a point.
trial Quotes

Going to trial with a lawyer who considers your whole life-style a Crime in Progress is not a happy prospect.

—Thompson, Hunter S(tockton)

A man who has no office to go toöI don't care who he isöis a trial of which you can have no conception.

—Shaw, George Bernard

I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat. Assuredly we bring not innocence into the world, we bring impurity much rather; that which purifies us is trial, and trial is by what is contrary.

—Milton,John

Equal and exact justice to all men†freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of the person under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selectedöthese principles form the bright constellation that has gone before us.

—Jefferson,Thomas

Trial by jury itself, instead of being a security to persons who are accused, will be a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.

—Denman,Thomas, 1st Baron