Word of the Day: ordeal

The word ordeal has appeared in 291 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Oct. 31 in “I Was Trying to Build My Son’s Resilience, Not Scar Him for Life” by Erik Vance:

When my wife and I took our 7-year-old son to climb a 900-foot piece of rock near our home in Colorado, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

… Alas, it did not go well. The angle was a little too steep and the whole thing took about two hours longer than I’d planned. A cloud of bugs at the top was almost intolerable and the rappel off the back involved an uncomfortable mess of limbs and ropes pinning my son against the rock.

“This is the worst day of my life!” he screamed at one particularly hard moment.

… Now that the ordeal is over, he’s proud of what he did — he still brags about it, and smiles in the car when the mountain comes into view. In the end, I can’t see changing my parenting strategy that much. If my son has one truly empowering experience for every debacle, I’d count that as a success.

Daily Word Challenge

Can you correctly use the word ordeal in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.

If you want a better idea of how ordeal can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.