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🇵🇹Portuguese Source WordCode: PT

calvário

Pronunciation / Transliteration: /kawˈva.ɾju/

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Ordeal/ɔːrˈdiːl/
nounCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #5420 frequency
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🇵🇹 Example Sentence in Portuguese:

"Eles passaram por um verdadeiro calvário durante a tempestade."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A very difficult, painful, or harrowing experience, trial, or test.

    "The hostages survived a terrifying three-week ordeal."
  2. 2

    An ancient test of guilt or innocence in which the accused was subjected to dangerous or painful physical trials.

    "In medieval times, trial by ordeal was frequently used when human testimony proved inconclusive."
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Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived from the Old English word 'ordāl', meaning 'judgment' or 'trial', which stems from Germanic roots combining *uz- (out) and *dōl (deal, share, or judgment). Historically, it referred to ancient judicial trials where the accused had to undergo severe physical tests to prove innocence, evolving over centuries to mean any extremely severe or unpleasant experience.

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