Synonyms

trial and error

American

noun

experimentation or investigation in which various methods or means are tried and faulty ones eliminated in order to find the correct solution or to achieve the desired result or effect.

trial and error British

noun

a method of discovery, solving problems, etc, based on practical experiment and experience rather than on theory

he learned to cook by trial and error

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

trial and error Cultural

To “proceed by trial and error” is to experiment, rejecting what does not work and adopting what does.

trial and error Idioms

An attempt to accomplish something by trying various means until the correct one is found. for example, The only way to solve this problem is by trial and error. The error here alludes to the failed means or attempts, which are discarded until the right way is found. [c. 1800]

Other Word Forms

trial-and-error adjective

Etymology

Origin of trial and error

First recorded in 1800–10

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"Then I thought, what if we could map the entire brain and gain a much broader view? It took several rounds of testing and trial and error before the measurements and analysis worked well together."

From Science Daily

Figuring out who and how you love takes trial and error, two things Andie and Blane both endure while trying to fit into each other’s respective worlds.

From Salon

“So a lot of trial and error and a lot of research, since it’s just the two of us.”

From Los Angeles Times

With no formal engineering background, Richardson began collecting information online, perusing old manuals, learning through trial and error.

From Los Angeles Times

Instead of directly modeling their behavior, researchers use trial and error to come up with plausible values for key parameters—the rate at which clouds over the ocean turn to rain, say.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023