time trial

noun

: a competitive event (as in auto racing) in which individuals are successively timed over a set course or distance

Examples of time trial in a Sentence

He posted the second best lap in the time trials.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Ten subjects tested 0, 60, 75, 90, and 112.5 grams of carbohydrate per hour for two hours of cycling followed by a 30-minute time trial. Alex Hutchinson, Outside Online, 3 Mar. 2025 Evenepoel is fresh off a good performance in the Tour de France, winning the first of the Tour's two time trials and finishing third in the overall. NBC News, 28 July 2024 Check out the relative effect sizes for time to exhaustion and time trial in these forest plots. Alex Hutchinson, Outside Online, 19 Apr. 2025 Fifty-one cyclists and triathletes completed a series of tests consisting of two hours of moderately hard cycling followed by a 20-kilometer all-out time trial, while consuming anywhere from 0 to 120 grams of carbohydrate per hour, in 10-gram increments. Alex Hutchinson, Outside Online, 3 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for time trial

Word History

First Known Use

1857, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of time trial was in 1857

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Time trial.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/time%20trial. Accessed 29 May. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on time trial

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!