From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtrialtri‧al1 /ˈtraɪəl/ ●●● S3 W2 noun 1 court [countable, uncountable]SCTTRIAL a legal process in which a judge and often a jury in a court of law examine information to decide whether someone is guilty of a crime → try The trial is due to start next week.on trial (for something) Brady was on trial for assault. → show trial2 testTEST/EXPERIMENT [countable, uncountable] a process of testing to find out whether something works effectively and is safe a new drug that is undergoing clinical trials3 try somebody/somethingTRY something TO SEE IF IT IS GOOD [countable, uncountable] a short period during which you use or do something or employ someone to find out whether they are satisfactory for a particular purpose or job → tryon trial They let me have the computer on trial for thirty days. The security system will be reviewed after a three-month trial period. Smith was hired on a six-month trial basis.trial separation (=a period of time in which a husband and wife do not live together, to find out whether they want to stay married)4 → by/through trial and error5 difficultyWORRIED [countable usually plural] something that is difficult to deal with, and that is worrying or annoying → trying the daily trials of living in a poor countrybe a trial (to/for somebody) My brothers and I were always a real trial to my parents. the trials and tribulations of running a business6 → trialsCOLLOCATIONSverbsbe on trial (=be being judged in a court of law)Her son is on trial charged with murder.stand/face trial (=be judged in a court of law)Doctors said he was unfit to stand trial.go on trialTaylor went on trial accused of fraud.be awaiting/facing trialIts managing director is awaiting trial on corruption charges.put somebody on trialThey should never have been put on trial, let alone convicted.bring somebody to trialThe people who were responsible for this crime must be brought to trial.be sent for trial (also be committed for trial British English)Smith's lawyer battled to stop him being sent for trial in Britain.a trial is heldWe believe the trial will be held sometime next month.a trial opens (=officially begins)The trial opened 5 weeks ago.a trial is adjourned (=it is officially stopped for several days, weeks, or months)The trial was adjourned until November.ADJECTIVES/NOUN + triala murder/fraud etc trialShe was a witness in a murder trial.a fair trialHe is entitled to a fair trial.a criminal trial (=for cases involving a crime)In a criminal trial, guilt has to be proven beyond reasonable doubt.a civil trial (=for cases dealing with the private affairs of citizens, rather than cases involving a crime)In civil trials, the jury's decision need not be unanimous. phrasesa case goes/comes to trialIf the case ever went to trial, he would probably lose.nounsthe trial judgeThe trial judge acquitted the accused on the charge of assault.the trial lawyerHe is regarded as one of the finest trial lawyers in the state.the trial courtThe evidence will be fully tested in the trial court. a trial dateNo trial date has been set because of procedural delays.the trial verdictHis lawyers have said they will appeal the civil trial verdict.
Examples from the Corpus
trial• He was sentenced to between five and 15 years after a trial which exposed the privileged lifestyle of rich New York youngsters.• Drake is in a federal prison in Houston, awaiting trial on charges of cocaine trafficking.• The drug is being evaluated in clinical trials.• Until now, the drug was only available to people taking part in clinical trials.• People in Russia are exhausted by the daily trials of living.• Results of the drug trial will be available soon.• Perelli faces trial later in the year on corruption and perjury charges.• A federal trial court sided with Lockheed, and threw out the claim.• The organisation planned its first fibre field trials in 1974, and began them in 1977.• At the brothers' first trial, in 1993, Oziel testified about the confessions for the prosecution.• Event-related potentials require many trials for the averaging procedure to work.• It makes extensive use of mock trials, simulations, and role-playing to reconstruct historical events.• On Tuesday, a judge rejected requests to televise the murder trial of Robert Caine.• What if William and the Watch went down together in some nautical disaster on the next trial?• A man was due to go on trial at Liverpool Crown Court later today accused of murdering his wife.• A man from Seattle is on trial for the murder.• Bedworth's trial, expected to last three weeks, continues.• Probert is overseeing the trials of the new explosives.• The trial is due to take place next month at Wood Green Crown Court.on trial (for something)• Five police officers, including a general, are on trial for accepting the alleged bribes from Fininvest.• Kriho may not have been on trial for her beliefs.• Manager Peter Reid wanted him on trial but Ghent will not let their man leave on approval.• In each case it is the woman and her conduct that the man's lawyers will try to put on trial.• In Denver, only Tim McVeigh was on trial.• Blonde, 21-year-old Elizabeth Dugan, who comes from a respectable family, went on trial yesterday for attempted murder.• Rodriguez has spent the past year in prison while on trial for murder.clinical trials• The online journal of current clinical trials, a scientific electronic journal, is to be launched this month.• The company will fund clinical trials necessary for the compounds to be shuttled through the federal drug approval process.• One of these diagnostic agents is now in clinical trials.• These agents are now being tested in clinical trials with people at risk. 6.• The high cost of clinical trials and animal tests has forced Beecham to hold back products that looked promising in research.• The team is now seeking approval to carry out clinical trials at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford.• But no large, long-range clinical trials have been completed.• Insurers have everything to gain by supporting clinical trials.trial period• And they have warned they are only prepared to leave services as they are for a trial period.• Sort of a trial period to get acquainted.• Children have been taken on by the Institute and given trial periods.• The unusually long incubation period for this disease dictates an unusually long trial period.• After a successful trial period, tickets timed at half-hour intervals will now be required to visit the Washington Monument year-round.• Therefore, if your daughter truly has scoliosis, the trial period you asked is not warranted.• The redundancy payments legislation allows employees a four-week trial period in which to make up their minds.• These markets should be deregulated initially for a three-year trial period, said the review.be a trial (to/for somebody)• This arbitrary divorce releases covert tensions yet makes possible the performance of Antigone s trial and punishment.• He concentrated on representing non-Protestant immigrants and was a trial lawyer during Prohibition days.• Learning to live with blindness was a major trial for the young girl.• It was a trial by deposition conducted across the four corners of the nation.• Learning to practice law in Miami was a trial by fire in the mid to late 1970s.• There was a trial in early May this year, to determine whether Hughes was guilty of reckless driving.• But they are trials we have tested, and they have worked.• At the time, what Lissa and I did was supposed to be a trial separation.• Building works are a trial, as anyone who ever undertakes them will agree.trialtrial2 verb (trialled, trialling) [transitive] British English TRY something TO SEE IF IT IS GOODto thoroughly test something to see if it works correctly or is effective SYN try out These techniques were trialled by teachers in 300 schools.→ See Verb tableFrom Longman Business Dictionarytrialtri‧al /ˈtraɪəl/ noun [countable]1LAWa legal process in which a court of law examines a case to decide whether someone is guilty of a crimeThree former brokers were ordered tostand trial for securities fraud.2a process of testing a product to see whether it is safe, effective etcThe company expectsclinical trials (=scientific tests on a drug to see if it is safe before it is sold) to continue for two years. —trial verb [transitive]The language awareness course has been trialled with encouraging results. —trialling noun [uncountable]the development, trialling and pre-testing of materials3by/through trial and error if you do something by or through trial and error, you try several different ways of doing it to get the result you wantI got these machine settings right purely by trial and error.Origin trial (1400-1500) Anglo-French trier; → TRY1 