[
US
/ɔɹˈdiɫ/
]
[ UK /ɔːdˈiəl/ ]
[ UK /ɔːdˈiəl/ ]
NOUN
- a severe or trying experience
- a primitive method of determining a person's guilt or innocence by subjecting the accused person to dangerous or painful tests believed to be under divine control; escape was usually taken as a sign of innocence
How To Use ordeal In A Sentence
- Mrs May claimed that evidence from the blonde-haired victim, who had had a baby since her ordeal, was unreliable.
- Some of you may be surprised to see Mr. Jerrold here in person-in as much as our notice card intimated that he had been "liquidated" - which process we have come to understand in recent years is somewhat of an ordeal. The Present Condition of England
- From his side of the racial divide, the ordeal of mobilization proved simply redundant.
- To the surprise of many, he remains at the helm despite this most depressing afternoon of a season that has become an ongoing ordeal by fire. The Sun
- Her ordeal began in November when she started having fits and convulsions despite no previous history of health problems.
- He said the trek had been something of an ordeal over difficult terrain and there had been days of miserable weather with wind, rain and snow.
- Thankfully she had been spared the ordeal of surgery.
- There are similarities in the practices of both sects: initiation is by tearing out the hair, and the lifestyle is one of extreme austerity involving nakedness, penances, and ordeals.
- Plucky Anna bounces back from her ordeal the next morning, so eager is she to get a Van Gogh back to the nice lady who deserves it, but a Romanian tycoon dispatches a tiny hit woman to steal the painting away. Touch of Evil
- Five years ago lunch at this inner-city school was an ordeal rather than a pleasure. Times, Sunday Times
