trial-and-error
Testing successive attempts
Trial-and-error is a method of problem-solving through repeated attempts, learning from failures until something works.
The approach lacks theoretical guidance—you simply try things and see what happens: Through trial and error, she figured out the right combination of spices.
The hyphenated form typically modifies nouns: a trial-and-error approach.
Systematic testing of ideas
- iterationRepeated procedural pass
- testingExamining to evaluate
- refinementElegance of manner
- adjustmentAlteration to improve fit
tinkering · troubleshooting · debugging · calibration · prototyping · revision · modification · tweaking
Act of finding something
- practiceRepeated work toward mastery
- experiencePractical knowledge from life
- mistakesUnintended wrong actions
- failureLack of success
feedback · insight · understanding · mastery · apprenticeship · skill-building · hands-on · self-taught
Testing new methods
- empiricalBased on observation, not theory
- variableProne to fluctuation
- controlAuthority to direct
- observationAttentive watching or remark
data · replication · falsification · validation · verification · Edison · laboratory · research
Testable proposed explanation
- attemptEffort to accomplish
- solutionAnswer or liquid mixture
- approachWay of handling something
- strategyPlanned approach to goals
workaround · improvisation · brainstorming · elimination · deduction · reasoning · guesswork · approximation
experimentation
Systematic testing of ideas
- iterationRepeated procedural pass
- testingExamining to evaluate
- refinementElegance of manner
adjustment · tinkering · troubleshooting · debugging · calibration · prototyping · revision · modification · tweaking · fine-tuning
discovery
Act of finding something
- practiceRepeated work toward mastery
- experiencePractical knowledge from life
- mistakesUnintended wrong actions
failure · feedback · insight · understanding · mastery · apprenticeship · skill-building · hands-on · self-taught · intuition
experimental
Testing new methods
observation · data · replication · falsification · validation · verification · Edison · laboratory · research · method
hypothesis
Testable proposed explanation
strategy · workaround · improvisation · brainstorming · elimination · deduction · reasoning · guesswork · approximation · estimation
- Learning Activitiesquizzes, flashcards, drills, practice, experiments
- experiential learninghands-on, immersive, interactive, simulation, role-play
- assessmentevaluating, test, analyzing, exam, assessing
- experimentsexperiment, experiments, test, tests, experimental group
- practicalpractical, pragmatic, realistic, sensible, reasonable
trial-and-errordeductive reasoning
Deriving specifics from generalities
systematic approach · logical deduction · deduction · scientific method · by the book
trial-and-errorsure thing
Guaranteed outcome or agreement
precision · surgical precision · straight path · certainty · expertise
error, trial, trials, errors, unerring, erroneous, errorless, trialed, erroneously