ordeal

the ordeal of being shipwrecked

the ordeal of having to give evidence.

accounts of their ordeal were blazoned to the entire nation.

the ordeal of being an innocent murder suspect;

Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.

their 20-hour ordeal at the hands of a gunman

she knew that the ordeal to come must tax all her strength.

Throughout the ordeal, he remained basically the same.