ordeal
noun
Simple meaning
A severe or trying experience.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
awrdeelSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɔɹˈdil
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A severe or trying experience
figuratively
A painful or trying experience.
The poisonous ordeal bean or Calabar bean.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Evergreen shrub or tree of South Africa.
Dark brown highly poisonous seed of the calabar-bean vine.
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.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.