name · noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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Received-Pronunciation:/ˌtɹɪbjʊˈleɪ̯ʃən/
General-American:/ˌtɹɪbjəˈleɪ̯ʃən/
Australia:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -eɪʃən
CMU ARPABET:T R IH2 B Y AH0 L EY1 SH AH0 N
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
name
Meaning 1
(A period of) persecution before the Second Coming, lasting seven years, which Christians will experience worldwide which will purify and strengthen them.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Qualifier: Christian eschatology
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
Any adversity; a trying period or event.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
an annoying or frustrating or catastrophic event
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
his mother-in-law's visits were a great trial for him
life is full of tribulations
a visitation of the plague
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: trial, visitation
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: affliction
Narrower terms: fire
History
Etymology
Proprialization from tribulation.
From Middle English tribulation, from Old French tribulacion, from Late Latin trībulātiō (“distress, trouble, tribulation, affliction”), from Latin tribulāre (“to press, probably also thresh out grain”), from trībulum (“a sledge consisting of a wooden block studded with sharp pieces of flint or with iron teeth, used for threshing grain”), from terēre (“to rub”); see trite.
Across languages
Translations
57 source translations are retained for this English entry.
