trial by fire
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A difficult test or challenge that proves one's abilities
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
một thử thách khó khăn chứng minh khả năng của một người
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: test using fire
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The new employee faced a trial by fire on her first day with a major project
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “trial by fire” mean?
A difficult test or challenge that proves one's abilities Literally: test using fire
Is “trial by fire” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.