How to use ordeal in a sentence

29 example sentences · noun

Ordeal means a trial in which the accused was subjected to a dangerous test (such as ducking in water), divine authority deciding the guilt of the accused. Example: “The details of the ordeal can be distressing to some readers.”

Examples of ordeal by meaning

nounA trial in which the accused was subjected to a dangerous test (such as ducking in water), divine authority deciding...

trial by ordeal

nounA painful or trying experience.

It hurts the pride of the Woosters, Jeeves.” “My advice, sir, would be to fortify yourself for the ordeal.” “How?” “There are always cocktails, sir.1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XXI, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC
All the same, nearly eight hours on the footplate covering a distance of 320 miles, with an ambient temperature of up to 103° for much of the time, proved an ordeal which I would not lightly undertake again.1960 October, P. Ransome-Wallis, “Modern motive power of the German Federal Railway: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 611

More sentences with ordeal

The details of the ordeal can be distressing to some readers.From the entry distressing
She bore herself well throughout the ordeal.From the entry bear
The ordeal was a test of everyone’s fibre.From the entry fibre
The ordeal was a test of everyone's fiber.From the entry fiber
He stayed collected throughout the ordeal.From the entry collected
The initiatee was asked to plead in various ways and taken through the ordeal.2021, Joseph I. Okogun, The Life of An Enigma: A Biographical Account of the Life and the Times of John Okogun Omovuon of Ewohimi…. From the entry initiatee
Last night, as they rested in Penang, Malaysia, the rescued passengers relived their ordeal.1999 May 21, Sarah Hall, “Holiday cruisers sing as ship sinks”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media…. From the entry Georgean
Throughout the ordeal, he almost always wore Ray-Bans, perhaps nodding to the job awaiting him once he cleared his judicial hurdle.2025 February 28, Jacob Gallagher, “ASAP Rocky, Cleared in Legal Battle, Gets Right Back to Fashion”, in The New York Times, New York…. From the entry Ray-Bans
This was not a side licking its wounds from the humbling of Anfield or Saturday’s ordeal against Manchester United.2018 April 10, Daniel Taylor, “Liverpool go through after Mohamed Salah stops Manchester City fightback”, in The Guardian (London). From the entry lick one's wounds
As the tire fire that is the Edmonton Oilers rages on, their AHL affiliate is going through a worse ordeal.2014 December 19, “NHL: Oilers lose AHL affiliate Oklahoma City Barons due to attendance issues”, in Sports Illustrated, retrieved 10 Feb…. From the entry tire fire
Although The Demeter births the Ploutonian figure that initiates Lucy’s ordeal, it will be Jesus Christ that resolves her wayward vagabonding.2012, Noël Montague-Étienne Rarignac, “The Overturned Lamp”, in The Theology of Dracula: Reading the Book of Stoker as Sacred Text…. From the entry Ploutonian
After each day's work in the fields, Brown was given some nostrum and made to repeat the ordeal.2008, Harriet A. Washington, “Profitable Wonders”, in Medical Apartheid, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, page 53. From the entry nostrum
One nurse aggressively stanched the arterial pseudoaneurysm with a copious number of four-inch gauze pads, but Williams’s ordeal is hardly over.2008 May 12, George Vecsey, “Accepting the Costs of a Life in Football”, in New York Times. From the entry pseudoaneurysm
Nor do many people today long to eat peacock, which was both a privilege and an ordeal reserved for royalty.1990 December 20, Charles Perry, “The Birds: Fowl Play…”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications…. From the entry peacock
With their carapace they survive the ordeal of the nets, frisking into scrabbly action as soon as they can.1980, John Lehmann, Alan Ross, The London Magazine - Volume 20, Issues 7-12, page 106. From the entry scrabbly
But "not half the ordeal people make out"?1935, Eliot Crawshay-Williams, Simple Story: An Accidental Autobiography, page 102. From the entry platformish
Many people suffering through this ordeal come to therapy feeling like the division of housework or chores between them and their partner isn’t equal.2023 September 18, Mark Travers, “2 Ways ‘Weaponized Incompetence’ Might Be Hurting Your Relationship”, in Forbes. From the entry weaponized incompetence
Deconcocted and mixed with certain other barks, sass was used in ritual ordeals to test, punish, or absolve those accused of witchcraft.2006, Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas, Deeper Shades of Purple: Womanism in Religion and Society. From the entry deconcoct
The ordeal of the sotah worked only in an age when people believed in its power to expose the guilty and exonerate the innocent.2001, David L. Lieber, Jules Harlow, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, page 796. From the entry sotah
Along with trial by ordeal, hanging was the most effective deterrent that could be devised in an age without police or prisons.1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000…. From the entry hanging
Young Bob's oddly penetrant voice was raised, to his father's uneasiness, in opposition to Grayson, and thus providentially deflected the ordeal from Charles.1952, Vincent Sheean, Rage of the Soul, page 82. From the entry penetrant
As it happened, this particular ordeal was exceedingly severe, but nothing can excuse the absolute failure of the troops concerned to rise to the occasion.1902, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 38, in The Great Boer War. From the entry rise to the occasion
George sat in the front row—she fussily settling to outsit the ordeal and he striking at once an attitude of absorbed interest.1901, Fred Schultz Lincoln, An Indiana Girl, Chapter 12. From the entry outsit
For many of the guests at both Grossinger's and the Concord, Singles Week was an ordeal of waiting, watching, seeking and trying to look and sound attractive.1967 August 28, Malcolm W[ilde] Browne, “Only a Few Win Catskills Mating Game, but Wait Till Next Year; Hotels' Singles Week Is Over for…. From the entry Princess Charming
But he was free from any trace of the conventional masculine sniffishness toward the jilted woman; instead, he visualized, more vividly than ever, the bitter humiliation of Miriam's ordeal.1922, Harold Hunter Armstrong, For Richer, for Poorer, page 129. From the entry sniffishness
He also provides the helpful service of describing the contents of such cryptofascist films as Chuck Norris's “Invasion U.S.A.,” sparing the reader the ordeal of actually having to watch them.1988 January 10, Peter Brunette, “Democracy Goes to the Movies”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry crypto-fascist

Meaning of ordeal

noun A trial in which the accused was subjected to a dangerous test (such as ducking in water), divine authority deciding the guilt of the accused.
noun A painful or trying experience.
noun The poisonous ordeal bean or Calabar bean.

Full definition of ordeal

Questions about ordeal in a sentence

How do you use ordeal in a sentence?: Ordeal is used as a noun. For example: “The details of the ordeal can be distressing to some readers.”
What is a short sentence with ordeal?: “trial by ordeal”
What does ordeal mean?: Ordeal means a trial in which the accused was subjected to a dangerous test (such as ducking in water), divine authority deciding the guilt of the accused.

Adapted from Wiktionary: ordeal (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use ordeal in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/ordeal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.