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Dictionary


tri•al



Pronunciation: (trī'ul, trīl), [key]
—n.
1. Law.
a. 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.
b. the determination of a person's guilt or innocence by due process of law.
2. the act of trying, testing, or putting to the proof.
3. test; proof.
4. an attempt or effort to do something.
5. a tentative or experimental action in order to ascertain results; experiment.
6. the state or position of a person or thing being tried or tested; probation.
7. subjection to suffering or grievous experiences; a distressed or painful state: comfort in the hour of trial.
8. an affliction or trouble.
9. a trying, distressing, or annoying thing or person.
10. Ceram.a piece of ceramic material used to try the heat of a kiln and the progress of the firing of its contents.
11. on trial,
a. undergoing examination before a judicial tribunal.
b. 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.

triagetrial and error
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