Synonyms for ordeal

Grammar : Noun

Spell : awr-deel, -dee-uh l, awr-deel

Phonetic Transcription : ɔrˈdil, -ˈdi əl, ˈɔr dil

Top 10 synonyms for ordeal

Other synonyms for the word ordeal

Définition of ordeal

Origin : Old English ordel, ordal, "trial by physical test," literally "judgment, verdict," from Proto-Germanic noun *uzdailjam (cf. Old Saxon urdeli, Old Frisian urdel, Dutch oordeel, German urteil "judgment"), literally "that which is dealt out" (by the gods), from *uzdailijan "share out," related to Old English adælan "to deal out" (see deal (n.1)). Curiously absent in Middle English, and perhaps reborrowed 16c. from Medieval Latin or Middle French, which got it from Germanic.
The notion is of the kind of arduous physical test (such as walking blindfolded and barefoot between red-hot plowshares) that was believed to determine a person's guilt or innocence by immediate judgment of the deity, an ancient Teutonic mode of trial. English retains a more exact sense of the word; its cognates in German, etc., have been generalized.
Metaphoric extension to "anything which tests character or endurance" is attested from 1650s. The prefix or- survives in English only in this word, but was common in Old English and other Germanic languages (Gothic ur-, Old Norse or-, etc.) and originally was an adverb and preposition meaning "out."

noun trouble, suffering

Example sentences :

Had I been subject only to his examination, my ordeal would not have been severe.
Extract from : « Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327 » by Various

I was sure only that they had been through an ordeal and were feeling the reaction.
Extract from : « It Happened in Egypt » by C. N. Williamson

He divined the nature of the ordeal through which he had gone.
Extract from : « The Rock of Chickamauga » by Joseph A. Altsheler

He had resolved to subject her to the ordeal of the prince's addresses.
Extract from : « Calderon The Courtier » by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

But this ordeal combat was far removed from the domain of sport.
Extract from : « English Villages » by P. H. Ditchfield

The one that appalled me most was the inward guilt which I brought with me to this ordeal.
Extract from : « The Cavalier » by George Washington Cable

I went with some misgivings, but the ordeal proved uneventful.
Extract from : « City of Endless Night » by Milo Hastings

Greatly as he shrank from the ordeal, he must encounter it without show of reluctance!
Extract from : « Salted With Fire » by George MacDonald

The two most common ordeals were the ordeal by fire and the ordeal by water.
Extract from : « Introductory American History » by Henry Eldridge Bourne

I should have deserved it, I knew, but I felt as if I should die under the ordeal.
Extract from : « The First Violin » by Jessie Fothergill

Antonyms for ordeal

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019