| Trial (n.) The act of trying or testing in any manner. |
| Trial (n.) Any effort or exertion of strength for the purpose of ascertaining what can be done or effected. |
| Trial (n.) The act of testing by experience |
| Trial (n.) Examination by a test |
| Trial (n.) The state of being tried or tempted |
| Trial (n.) That which tries or afflicts |
| Trial (n.) The formal examination of the matter in issue in a cause before a competent tribunal |
| trial and error experimenting until a solution is found |
| test / trial / run the act of testing something, "in the experimental trials the amount of carbon was measured separately", "he called each flip of the coin a new trial" |
| clinical trial / clinical test a rigorously controlled test of a new drug or a new invasive medical device on human subjects, in the United States it is conducted under the direction of the FDA before being made available for general clinical use |
| phase I clinical trial / phase I a clinical trial on a few persons to determine the safety of a new drug or invasive medical device, for drugs, dosage or toxicity limits should be obtained |
| phase II clinical trial / phase II a clinical trial on more persons than in phase I, intended to evaluate the efficacy of a treatment for the condition it is intended to treat, possible side effects are monitored |
| phase III clinical trial / phase III a large clinical trial of a treatment or drug that in phase I and phase II has been shown to be efficacious with tolerable side effects, after successful conclusion of these clinical trials it will receive formal approval from the FDA |
| phase IV clinical trial / phase IV sometimes the FDA approves a drug for general use but requires the manufacturer to continue to monitor its effects, during this phase the drug may be tried on slightly different patient populations than those studied in earlier trials |
| preclinical trial / preclinical test / preclinical phase a laboratory test of a new drug or a new invasive medical device on animal subjects, conducted to gather evidence justifying a clinical trial |
| test trial the act of undergoing testing, "he survived the great test of battle", "candidates must compete in a trial of skill" |
| field trial a test of young hunting dogs to determine their skill in pointing and retrieving |