"trial and error" meaning in English

See trial and error in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: trials and errors [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|-|trials and errors}} trial and error (usually uncountable, plural trials and errors)
  1. The process of finding a solution to a problem by trying many possible solutions and learning from mistakes until success is attained. Tags: uncountable, usually Related terms: empirical, suck it and see Translations (solution by learning from mistakes): التَّجْرِبَة وَالْخَطَأ (alt: at-tajriba(t) wālḵaṭaʔ) (Arabic), prova i error (Catalan), assaig i error (Catalan), tempteig [masculine] (Catalan), tanteig [masculine] (Catalan), 嘗試錯誤 /尝试错误 (chángshì cuòwù) (Chinese Mandarin), trial-and-error [masculine] (Dutch), yritys ja erehdys (Finnish), tâtonnement (French), trial and error (German), Versuch und Irrtum (German), נִסּוּי וּטְעִיָּה (nisúy ute'iyá) (Hebrew), próbálgatás (Hungarian), próbálkozás (Hungarian), kísérletezés (Hungarian), prove ed errori (Italian), tentativi ed errori (Italian), 試行錯誤 (shikō sakugo) (alt: しこうさくご) (Japanese), prøving og feiling (Norwegian Bokmål), prøving og feiling (Norwegian Nynorsk), آزمون و خطا (âzmun-o-xatâ) (Persian), سعی و خطا (sa'y-o-xatâ) (Persian), metoda prób i błędów [feminine] (Polish), tentativa e erro (Portuguese), ме́тод проб и оши́бок (métod prob i ošíbok) [masculine] (Russian), ме́тод ты́ка (métod týka) [colloquial] (Russian), ensayo y error (Spanish), tanteo [masculine] (Spanish), experimentación [feminine] (Spanish), probatura y error (Spanish), pagsubok at pagkakamali (Tagalog), babaso (Tagalog), ลองผิดลองถูก (long phit long thuk) (Thai), phương pháp thử và sai (Vietnamese)

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "trials and errors",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "trials and errors"
      },
      "expansion": "trial and error (usually uncountable, plural trials and errors)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English coordinated pairs",
          "parents": [
            "Coordinated pairs",
            "Terms by etymology"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English merisms",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with redundant transliterations",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Arabic translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Catalan translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hebrew translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Italian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Japanese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Norwegian Bokmål translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Norwegian Nynorsk translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Persian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Tagalog translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Thai translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Vietnamese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Navigating by trial and error may get you there eventually, but using a map is faster.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 October 9, A. A. Dowd, “The Star and Director of La La Land Reunite for First Man’s Spectacular Trip to the Moon”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2020-06-16:",
          "text": "Trial and error was a big part of the process: \"We need to fail down here so we don't fail up there,\" [Neil] Armstrong insists, though even some of the mistakes and malfunctions at ground level cause devastating casualties.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The process of finding a solution to a problem by trying many possible solutions and learning from mistakes until success is attained."
      ],
      "id": "en-trial_and_error-en-noun-ZeWJkkhQ",
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "empirical"
        },
        {
          "word": "suck it and see"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "alt": "at-tajriba(t) wālḵaṭaʔ",
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "التَّجْرِبَة وَالْخَطَأ"
        },
        {
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "prova i error"
        },
        {
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "assaig i error"
        },
        {
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "tempteig"
        },
        {
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "tanteig"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "chángshì cuòwù",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "嘗試錯誤 /尝试错误"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "trial-and-error"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "yritys ja erehdys"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "tâtonnement"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "trial and error"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "Versuch und Irrtum"
        },
        {
          "code": "he",
          "lang": "Hebrew",
          "roman": "nisúy ute'iyá",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "נִסּוּי וּטְעִיָּה"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "próbálgatás"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "próbálkozás"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "kísérletezés"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "prove ed errori"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "tentativi ed errori"
        },
        {
          "alt": "しこうさくご",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "shikō sakugo",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "試行錯誤"
        },
        {
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "prøving og feiling"
        },
        {
          "code": "nn",
          "lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "prøving og feiling"
        },
        {
          "code": "fa",
          "lang": "Persian",
          "roman": "âzmun-o-xatâ",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "آزمون و خطا"
        },
        {
          "code": "fa",
          "lang": "Persian",
          "roman": "sa'y-o-xatâ",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "سعی و خطا"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "metoda prób i błędów"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "tentativa e erro"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "métod prob i ošíbok",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "ме́тод проб и оши́бок"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "métod týka",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "tags": [
            "colloquial"
          ],
          "word": "ме́тод ты́ка"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "ensayo y error"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "tanteo"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "experimentación"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "probatura y error"
        },
        {
          "code": "tl",
          "lang": "Tagalog",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "pagsubok at pagkakamali"
        },
        {
          "code": "tl",
          "lang": "Tagalog",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "babaso"
        },
        {
          "code": "th",
          "lang": "Thai",
          "roman": "long phit long thuk",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "ลองผิดลองถูก"
        },
        {
          "code": "vi",
          "lang": "Vietnamese",
          "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
          "word": "phương pháp thử và sai"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "trial and error"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "trials and errors",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "trials and errors"
      },
      "expansion": "trial and error (usually uncountable, plural trials and errors)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "empirical"
    },
    {
      "word": "suck it and see"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English coordinated pairs",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English merisms",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Arabic translations",
        "Terms with Catalan translations",
        "Terms with Dutch translations",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Hebrew translations",
        "Terms with Hungarian translations",
        "Terms with Italian translations",
        "Terms with Japanese translations",
        "Terms with Mandarin translations",
        "Terms with Norwegian Bokmål translations",
        "Terms with Norwegian Nynorsk translations",
        "Terms with Persian translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Portuguese translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations",
        "Terms with Tagalog translations",
        "Terms with Thai translations",
        "Terms with Vietnamese translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Navigating by trial and error may get you there eventually, but using a map is faster.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 October 9, A. A. Dowd, “The Star and Director of La La Land Reunite for First Man’s Spectacular Trip to the Moon”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2020-06-16:",
          "text": "Trial and error was a big part of the process: \"We need to fail down here so we don't fail up there,\" [Neil] Armstrong insists, though even some of the mistakes and malfunctions at ground level cause devastating casualties.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The process of finding a solution to a problem by trying many possible solutions and learning from mistakes until success is attained."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "alt": "at-tajriba(t) wālḵaṭaʔ",
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "التَّجْرِبَة وَالْخَطَأ"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "prova i error"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "assaig i error"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "tempteig"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "tanteig"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "chángshì cuòwù",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "嘗試錯誤 /尝试错误"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "trial-and-error"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "yritys ja erehdys"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "tâtonnement"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "trial and error"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "Versuch und Irrtum"
    },
    {
      "code": "he",
      "lang": "Hebrew",
      "roman": "nisúy ute'iyá",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "נִסּוּי וּטְעִיָּה"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "próbálgatás"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "próbálkozás"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "kísérletezés"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "prove ed errori"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "tentativi ed errori"
    },
    {
      "alt": "しこうさくご",
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "shikō sakugo",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "試行錯誤"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "prøving og feiling"
    },
    {
      "code": "nn",
      "lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "prøving og feiling"
    },
    {
      "code": "fa",
      "lang": "Persian",
      "roman": "âzmun-o-xatâ",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "آزمون و خطا"
    },
    {
      "code": "fa",
      "lang": "Persian",
      "roman": "sa'y-o-xatâ",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "سعی و خطا"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "metoda prób i błędów"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "tentativa e erro"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "métod prob i ošíbok",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "ме́тод проб и оши́бок"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "métod týka",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ],
      "word": "ме́тод ты́ка"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "ensayo y error"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "tanteo"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "experimentación"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "probatura y error"
    },
    {
      "code": "tl",
      "lang": "Tagalog",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "pagsubok at pagkakamali"
    },
    {
      "code": "tl",
      "lang": "Tagalog",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "babaso"
    },
    {
      "code": "th",
      "lang": "Thai",
      "roman": "long phit long thuk",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "ลองผิดลองถูก"
    },
    {
      "code": "vi",
      "lang": "Vietnamese",
      "sense": "solution by learning from mistakes",
      "word": "phương pháp thử và sai"
    }
  ],
  "word": "trial and error"
}

Download raw JSONL data for trial and error meaning in English (6.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (eaedd02 and 8fbd9e8). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.