triallist

Noun (1)

trialist (plural trialists)

1. An advocate of trialism, especially with reference to the proposed creation of a state comprising Austria, Hungary, and a Slavic region.

Noun (2)

trialist (plural trialists)

1. A person who takes part in a clinical trial, especially as a researcher.
   • The balance of expertise and authority between research subjects and triallists is profoundly changed, raising questions about the limits of voluntarism and differing perspectives on risk—benefit analysis.2001, LeRoy Walters and Tamar Joy Kahn (eds.), Bibliography of Bioethics, Washington, DC: Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Volume 27, p. 48
2. A person who tries a product for the first time (as opposed to a regular purchaser); a person who participates in the trial of a new product.
   • models of stationary market conditions slightly underestimate the amount of once-only purchasing by brand trialists1986, John Philip Jones, chapter 5, in What’s in a Name? Advertising and the Concept of Brands, Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, page 123
3. (UK) An athlete who participates in a trial (competition to select players for a team); a person who enters a dog (especially a sheepdog) in a competition.
   • The following Saturday morning, with other members of the committee, I was on the touchline observing the trialists in action. It was a very good trial, with plenty of exciting talent on view.1998, Bill Samuel, chapter 7, in Rugby: Body and Soul, Edinburgh: Mainstream, page 88
4. (South Africa) A person standing trial in a court of law, especially one of a group of defendants in a high-profile case.
   • his mediation efforts, even in Africa, have not always proved successful—perhaps most notably in negotiating Mobutu’s departure from the former Zaire, and with respect to the Ogoni triallists in Nigeria under Sani Abacha’s dictatorship1999, David Simon, “From Mandela to Mbeki”, in J. E. Spence, editor, After Mandela, London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, page 94

See all 6 meanings of trialist