🇪🇸Spanish Source WordCode: ES

calvario

Pronunciation / Transliteration: /kalˈba.ɾjo/

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Ordeal/ɔːrˈdiː.əl/
nounCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #4500 frequency
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🇪🇸 Example Sentence in Spanish:

"El secuestro fue un terrible calvario para toda la familia."

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."

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived from the Old English word 'ordāl', meaning 'judgment' or 'trial', stemming from Proto-Germanic *uzdailją (out + to deal/divide). Historically, it referred to an ancient judicial test of guilt or innocence involving painful physical trials, later evolving to denote any extremely severe, harrowing, or trying experience.

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