Most commonly, the word trial refers to a legal process wherein a person’s guilt or innocence is determined. But it’s also used more generally to talk about particularly trying or distressing experiences that test one’s patience and resolve—and that’s where the synonym ordeal comes into play. An ordeal is any extremely severe or trying test, experience, or trial—or, more generally an unpleasant experience that one is happy to put behind them! However, the origins of ordeal are closer to the legal sense of trial than you might think. When ordeal entered English, it referred to a primitive form of trial to determine guilt or innocence by subjecting the accused person to fire, poison, or other serious danger, the result being regarded as a divine or preternatural judgment. Though nowadays, ordeal is more likely to be used of a harrowing experience at the DMV.

Someone who is gentle is kindly or good-natured. When we describe someone as a gentle soul, for instance, we usually mean they display tenderness and temperance in dealings with others. The synonym compassionate is a little more hands-on, or at least it has a powerful urge to be. This adjective describes someone that shows deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. The sensitivity and humaneness implied by this adjective put it in sharp contrast with words such as indifferent, apathetic, and uncaring, all of which, when describing people, suggest a coldness or a lack of concern for the well-being of others.

Even outside of the "Star Wars" universe, the difference between the nouns power and force is nuanced. Each term has upward of 15 noun definitions in the dictionary. The most basic distinction is that power is something one possesses (I have the power to open that window), while force is something one exerts (I used force to open that window). But, unencumbering ourselves from the physical realm for a moment, force is especially useful for talking about energy or intensity of an immaterial sort, such as a personality of great force, or about the power to convince, as in the force of a compelling argument. It’s also used to talk about any influence or agency analogous to physical force, such as social forces or political forces. Power, in its immaterial applications, is more suggestive of control and authority.