Testing

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /ˈtɛs.tɪŋ/

Definitions

1. The act of examining or assessing the quality, performance, or reliability of something through specific procedures
2. The procedure of conducting trials or experiments to determine the characteristics or effectiveness of an item or system
3. The process of applying methods to verify that a product, service, or condition meets required standards

Etymology: In Latin, "testum" meant a lid or an earthen pot, and its Old French descendant "test" named the clay vessel in which metalworkers heated ore and precious metal to see what was in it. Putting something "to the test" was originally a literal act of melting it down in that pot to separate the valuable from the worthless. From that workshop sense, the idea of a trial spread outward. A metallurgist tested gold to learn its purity, and a teacher could put students' knowledge to the same kind of test. The examination meaning thus grew out of a furnace, not a classroom. The word also has a second, separate line. A Latin noun "testis," meaning a witness, produced a Middle English "teste" through Old French, and that sense of attesting or bearing witness fed into the modern word. Two different Latin words thus reached English along the same path and merged into one spelling.

Synonyms: examining, assessing, evaluating, proving, trialing

Antonyms: ignoring, neglecting, overlooking