Definition of "trial"

all thy vexations / Were but my trials of thy love and thou / Hast strangely stood the test here

c. 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest‎, Act IV, Scene 1

had my powers been less limited, I might have enforced obedience; but as it was, it was but a trial of strength between her and me, in which she generally came off victorious

1847, Anne Brontë, chapter 3, in Agnes Grey‎, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, page 51

Jama saw the sweaty, smelly work as a kind of test that, if passed, would entitle him to see his father, a trial of his worth as a son and as a man.

2010, Nadifa Mohamed, Black Mamba Boy‎, Harper Collins, page 65

as she hath / Been publicly accused, so shall she have / A just and open trial

c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene iii]

She, after form of trial condemned to die on the scaffold, / Patiently met her doom at the foot of the statue of Justice.

1847, Henry Wadworth Longfellow, Evangeline‎, Boston: Ticknor, Part 3, p. 42

[…] this case should never have come to trial.

1960, Harper Lee, chapter 20, in To Kill a Mockingbird‎, Philadelphia: Lippincott, page 215

Your Honor, we object to all of this. The whole thing. This mock trial. The entire justice system is rigged against my client.

2020, Charles Yu, Interior Chinatown, New York: Pantheon, Act VI

That they are Cowards, many have said, but few have found it so in the time of Trial.

1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress‎, London: Nath. Ponder, page 172

Poor Justine was very ill; but other trials were reserved for her.

1818, Mary Shelley, chapter 5, in Frankenstein‎, volume 1, London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, page 120

I’m afraid I’m going to be a dreadful trial to you. Maybe you’d better send me back to the asylum.

1908, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter 12, in Anne of Green Gable‎, Toronto: Ryerson Press, page 108

[…] I’m not used […] to waiting hungry on others while they eat. It is a sore trial for a hobbit, that.

1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, chapter 4, in The Return of the King‎, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1973, page 98

You must be strong now, for your greatest trials are still ahead.

2008, Tan Twan Eng, The Gift of Rain‎, New York: Weinstein Books, Book 2, Chapter 13, p. 365

Finding my first Seed did not grow, which I easily imagin’d was by the Drought, I sought for a moister Piece of Ground to make another Trial in,

1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe‎, London: W. Taylor, page 123

He summoned up all his strength for one last trial, and bent his faltering steps towards [the house].

1839, Charles Dickens, chapter 28, in Oliver Twist‎, volume 2, London: Richard Bentley, page 144

After a dozen trials he succeeded in lighting the lantern,

1913, Willa Cather, chapter 1, in O Pioneers!‎, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 18

Before the first living cell was created, there may have been many trials and failures.

1950, Rachel Carson, chapter 1, in The Sea Around Us‎, New York: Oxford University Press, published 1961, page 7

In the week beginning April 6, the company began trialling the new processes - these include greater spacing, split shifts, additional safety requirements and washing facilities.

2020 April 22, “Network News: Bombardier resumes work at Derby Litchurch Lane”, in Rail, page 9