Trialist
adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An advocate of trialism, especially with reference to the proposed creation of a state comprising Austria, Hungary, and a Slavic region.
- 2 A person who takes part in a clinical trial, especially as a researcher.
"2001, LeRoy Walters and Tamar Joy Kahn (eds.), Bibliography of Bioethics, Washington, DC: Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Volume 27, p. 48, 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."
- 3 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 trialists"
- 4 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. UK
"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."
- 5 A person standing trial in a court of law, especially one of a group of defendants in a high-profile case. South-Africa
"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 dictatorship"
- 1 Involving three elements; especially, pertaining to a potential state comprising Austria, Hungary, and a Slavic region. not-comparable
"Only if Bosnia-Herzegovina were fully annexed to the empire would it be possible eventually to incorporate it into the structure of a reformed trialist monarchy."
Example
More examples"Only if Bosnia-Herzegovina were fully annexed to the empire would it be possible eventually to incorporate it into the structure of a reformed trialist monarchy."
Etymology
From trial (“three”) + -ist.
From trial (“test; experiment; court proceedings”) + -ist.
Related phrases
More for "trialist"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.