on trial

idiom

: in a situation in which evidence against one is presented in a court to a judge and often a jury to decide if one is guilty of a crime

on trial for murder

She went on trial for possession of drugs.

—sometimes used figuratively to indicate that people will think about something in a critical way

The controversial case has put the entire health care system on trial.

Examples of on trial in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Jackson put the investigators of the case on trial, accusing them of showing bias in favor of law enforcement officers who may have been responsible. —Aysha Bagchi, USA Today, 20 Dec. 2025

Payakan, the Tulkun bull who bonded with Jake Sully’s son Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) in the last film, is on trial for being violent towards humans. —Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025

Small has been on trial, accused of physically beating and emotionally abusing his teenage daughter and asking her to lie about it. —Ryan Hughes, CBS News, 18 Dec. 2025

Luigi Mangione is not yet on trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. —Adam Reiss, NBC news, 18 Dec. 2025

Rhymes for on trial

• dial
• rial
• thiol
• vial
• denial
• mistrial
• posttrial
• pretrial
• retrial
• sensorial
• supervisorial