A test or competition where people are selected for a team, role, or position based on their performance.
From 'try out,' meaning to test something. The noun form developed in early 20th-century American English in the context of sports and theater.
Tryouts are essentially a real-world algorithm—coaches and directors run the same test on many people to rank them objectively, a systematic approach that only became common when organized sports and theater professionalized.
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