test Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun trying something to find out about it
    trial; trial run; tryout.
    • a sample for ten days free trial
    • a trial of progesterone failed to relieve the pain
  2. noun any standardized procedure for measuring sensitivity or memory or intelligence or aptitude or personality etc
    mental testing; mental test; psychometric test.
    • the test was standardized on a large sample of students
  3. noun a set of questions or exercises evaluating skill or knowledge
    examination; exam.
    • when the test was stolen the professor had to make a new set of questions
  4. noun the act of undergoing testing
    trial.
    • he survived the great test of battle
    • candidates must compete in a trial of skill
  5. noun the act of testing something
    trial; run.
    • in the experimental trials the amount of carbon was measured separately
    • he called each flip of the coin a new trial
  6. noun a hard outer covering as of some amoebas and sea urchins
  7. verb put to the test, as for its quality, or give experimental use to
    essay; prove; try; examine; try out.
    • This approach has been tried with good results
    • Test this recipe
  8. verb test or examine for the presence of disease or infection
    screen.
    • screen the blood for the HIV virus
  9. verb examine someone's knowledge of something
    quiz.
    • The teacher tests us every week
    • We got quizzed on French irregular verbs
  10. verb show a certain characteristic when tested
    • He tested positive for HIV
  11. verb achieve a certain score or rating on a test
    • She tested high on the LSAT and was admitted to all the good law schools
  12. verb determine the presence or properties of (a substance)
  13. verb undergo a test
    • She doesn't test well

WordNet

Test noun
Etymology
OE. test test, or cupel, potsherd, F. têt, from L. testum an earthen vessel; akin to testa a piece of burned clay, an earthen pot, a potsherd, perhaps for tersta, and akin to torrere to patch, terra earth (cf. Thirst, and Terrace), but cf. Zend tasta cup. Cf. Test a shell, Testaceous, Tester a covering, a coin, Testy, Tête-à-tête.
Definitions
  1. (Metal.) A cupel or cupelling hearth in which precious metals are melted for trial and refinement.
    Our ingots, tests, and many mo. Chaucer.
  2. Examination or trial by the cupel; hence, any critical examination or decisive trial; as, to put a man's assertions to a test. "Bring me to the test." Shak.
  3. Means of trial; as, absence is a test of love.
    Each test every light her muse will bear. Dryden.
  4. That with which anything is compared for proof of its genuineness; a touchstone; a standard.
    Life, force, and beauty must to all impart, At once the source, and end, and test of art. Pope.
  5. Discriminative characteristic; standard of judgment; ground of admission or exclusion.
    Our test excludes your tribe from benefit. Dryden.
  6. Judgment; distinction; discrimination.
    Who would excel, when few can make a test Betwixt indifferent writing and the best? Dryden.
  7. (Chem.) A reaction employed to recognize or distinguish any particular substance or constituent of a compound, as the production of some characteristic precipitate; also, the reagent employed to produce such reaction; thus, the ordinary test for sulphuric acid is the production of a white insoluble precipitate of barium sulphate by means of some soluble barium salt. Syn. -- Criterion; standard; experience; proof; experiment; trial. -- Test, Trial. Trial is the wider term; test is a searching and decisive trial. It is derived from the Latin testa (earthen pot), which term was early applied to the fining pot, or crucible, in which metals are melted for trial and refinement. Hence the peculiar force of the word, as indicating a trial or criterion of the most decisive kind.
    I leave him to your gracious acceptance, whose trial shall better publish his commediation. Shak.
    Thy virtue, prince, has stood the test of fortune, Like purest gold, that tortured in the furnace, Comes out more bright, and brings forth all its weight. Addison.
Test transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Tested; present participle & verbal noun Testing
Definitions
  1. (Metal.) To refine, as gold or silver, in a test, or cupel; to subject to cupellation.
  2. To put to the proof; to prove the truth, genuineness, or quality of by experiment, or by some principle or standard; to try; as, to test the soundness of a principle; to test the validity of an argument.
    Experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution. Washington.
  3. (Chem.) To examine or try, as by the use of some reagent; as, to test a solution by litmus paper.
Test noun
Etymology
L. testis. Cf. Testament, Testify.
Definitions
  1. A witness. Obs.
    Prelates and great lords of England, who were for the more surety tests of that deed. Ld. Berners.
Test intransitive verb
Etymology
L. testari. See Testament.
Definitions
  1. To make a testament, or will. Obs.
Test, Tes"ta noun (Also<
  • Test
  • Testa
)
Etymology
L. testa a piece of burned clay, a broken piece of earthenware, a shell. See Test a cupel.
Wordforms
plural E Tests L Testæ
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) The external hard or firm covering of many invertebrate animals. ✍ The test of crustaceans and insects is composed largely of chitin; in mollusks it is composed chiefly of calcium carbonate, and is called the shell.
  2. (Bot.) The outer integument of a seed; the episperm, or spermoderm.

Webster 1913