trial by ordeal
- noun
- /ˈtraɪəl baɪ ɔrˈdil/
- Literature
:
prueba de sufrimiento
- To me, the whole business sounded like trial by ordeal, the medieval ritual where the hands and legs of a suspected witch were bound before she was thrown into a pond to see if she could float.
Examples
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My father has a habit of subjecting my most serious lovers to some insidious form of trial by ordeal.
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Although I do not know the religious beliefs of Professor Bloom, I think it is safe to assume that he does not sacrifice goats to Azazel, nor does he approve of trial by ordeal as a means to determine innocence and guilt.
Academic text (1991) -
The trial by ordeal was against her.
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I sentence him to trial by ordeal.
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Let us submit her to trial by ordeal.
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In Numbers 5:11-29, a jealous husband may subject his wife to a trial by ordeal in order to determine her faithfulness.
Academic text (1991) -
Alric is a young cleric haunted by his past, being chased by pursuers who insist on having him face trial by ordeal for an accidental death he caused.
Blog text (2) -
In medieval times, accusations of witchcraft often led to trial by ordeal, where the accused would face dangerous tests to prove their innocence.
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The concept of trial by ordeal suggests that surviving a painful challenge would indicate one's guilt or innocence in the eyes of the law.
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During ancient trials, those accused often faced a trial by ordeal that forced them to endure life-threatening situations to demonstrate their purity.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A dangerous test once used to show if someone was guilty
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'trial' (a court procedure) + 'by' (indicating the method) + 'ordeal' (a ritual or severe test) yields a trial conducted by means of an ordeal. This follows a standard English 'X by Y' pattern expressing method, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words should be able to derive the meaning.
Etymology
Trial by ordeal comes from old courts where people were given dangerous tests, like holding a hot iron or being thrown into water. People believed a higher power would protect the innocent, so surviving the ordeal meant being called 'innocent', and that's why the phrase means deciding 'guilt' by a dangerous test.