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
例句
用作名词 (n.)
Through this ordeal Heng lay stiff and silent. 在这个严酷的考验中,恒一直僵硬地躺着,默不作声。
Once there we saw that the ordeal must have been great. 从前我们觉得严酷的考验一定是很伟大的。
I'd hate to go through such a terrible ordeal again. 我不想再受这种痛苦的经验。
Excessive choices quickly stop being a benefit and become an ordeal. 过多的选择很快就丧失了它的优势,而成为一种痛苦的经验。
常见句型
用作名词 (n.)
Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me. 在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。
经典引文
I kept dreading the ordeal of standing on the stage of Festival Hall.
出自: N. Sedaka
The freezing journey home at night..had been one of his worst ordeals.