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Ordeal
01
a difficult or painful experience, often one that lasts long and requires great effort and endurance to overcome
Grammatical Information
animacy status
abstract
Composition
Simple
countable
plural form
ordeals
Examples
Climbing the mountain was an ordeal that tested their physical and mental limits.
02
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
