test

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A set of questions or tasks used to measure someone's knowledge or skill.

   I always hated doing maths tests at school.

2. 2
   verb

   To check someone's knowledge or skill with questions or tasks.

   The teacher tests us every week.

3. 3
   noun

   An act of trying something to find out how good or safe it is.

   The new brakes passed every safety test.

4. 4
   verb

   To try something out to find out whether it works.

   Engineers tested the engine before the launch.

Common collocations

• fail a test Verb + noun
• give a test Verb + noun
• pass a test Verb + noun
• take a test Verb + noun
• driving test Adjective + noun
• test drive Adjective + noun
• written test Adjective + noun

From Middle English test, teste, from Old French test, teste (“an earthen vessel, especially a pot in which metals were tried”), from Latin testum (“the lid of an earthen vessel, an earthen vessel, an earthen pot”), from *terstus, past participle of the root *tersa (“dry land”). See terra, thirst. The examination sense came via metaphor of the metallurgical sense - the way a metallurgist puts to the test his gold, a teacher may put to the test their students' knowledge.

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