Meaning of attempt in English

attempt

verb [ T ]

/əˈtempt/ us

/əˈtempt/

Add to word list Add to word list

to try to do something, especially something difficult:

[ + to infinitive ] He attempted to escape through a window.

He attempted a joke, but no one laughed.

There's no point in even attempting an explanation - he'll never listen.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to try to do something

tryI'll try to call her again.
attemptI have never attempted to run a marathon.
endeavourUK Engineers are endeavouring to locate the source of the problem.
seekThey sought to reassure the public.
battleHe was battling to fix the roof in the rain.
striveWith limited resources, they are striving to make the school a better one.

See more results »

More examplesFewer examples

Study the examples first of all, then attempt the exercises on the next page.
"It would be stupid to attempt the journey in the dark." "Precisely, " he answered.
The pilot attempted a crash-landing on the beach.
The two explorers attempted an unaided walk across the South Pole.
Make sure the rope is firmly attached before attempting to climb down it.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Trying and making an effort

See more results »

attempt

noun [ C ]

/əˈtempt/ us

/əˈtempt/

attempt noun [C] (ACT OF TRYING)

the act of trying to do something, especially something difficult:

[ + to infinitive ] She made a few half-hearted attempts to join in their conversation.

He made no attempt to be sociable.

This is my second attempt at the exam.

None of our attempts at contacting Dr James was successful.

They closed the road in an attempt (= to try to) to reduce traffic in the city.

an attempt on someone's life

an act of trying to kill someone:

This is the third attempt on the President's life.

More examplesFewer examples

The government has launched a new road safety campaign in an attempt to reduce the number of road accidents.
My second attempt at making flaky pastry was a bit more successful.
They had to abandon their attempt to climb the mountain.
They have begun to vaccinate children in an attempt to check the spread of the disease.
The doctors made one last desperate attempt to save the boy's life.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Trying and making an effort

See more results »

attempt noun [C] (IN SPORT)

an act of trying to score a goal in a game of football or move the ball forwards in American football:

Chelsea had several attempts on goal in the first 15 minutes.

Washington is averaging under six yards per passing attempt.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Football/soccer

See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

American football

(Definition of attempt from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

attempt | American Dictionary

attempt

verb

/əˈtempt/

Add to word list Add to word list

to try to make or do something:

[ T ] The team’s quarterback attempted only 12 passes during the entire game.

[ + to infinitive ] Don’t attempt to do these tricks at home.

attempt

noun [ C ]

/əˈtemt/

the act of trying to make or do something:

[ + to infinitive ] The pilot made several attempts to regain control of the aircraft.

An attempt on someone’s life is an act of trying to kill that person:

a failed attempt on the president’s life

(Definition of attempt from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of attempt

attempt

It was an attempt to get his support for their plans so far as they themselves understood them.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This indicator aimed to validate teachers' approach to lesson planning while attempting to link teacher thinking and administrator thinking through a shared discourse.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The oboe, on the other hand, offers very little for the eye, though some players attempt to compensate for this with grand gestures.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

When children attend to the input and repeatedly attempt to parse it, their performance undergoes a qualitative change.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The intention of a quick perusal of such a table is to observe trends, not attempt to produce statistical evidence.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

He attempted to create architecture directly out of what he called 'nature's organic structural thoughts'.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Yet the attempt to account for the value of happiness in purely hedonic terms seems to miss something.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Despite numerous attempts to estimate the level of returns to scale in the data, there is no broad agreement in the literature on its value.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In other words, in refusing to attribute any role to crime, these studies are forced into the same zero-sum framework they attempt to challenge.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It will be important for future work to continue to address these issues by attempting to differentiate lexical from phonological representations.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It draws on important insights associated with other theodicies, but attempts to get past their alleged shortcomings.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Having random police patrols apprehend only some "unsuccessful" attempting criminals is not unfair even when such patrols miss other attempting criminals.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We did not attempt to estimate the spatiotemporal structure of the receptive fields of complex cells.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Two students directly compared technical problems with the process of analysis in their attempts to apply analytical methods in solving technical problems.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It sometimes took the form of attempts to introduce new social groups into the workforce and following an old practice to diversify its social composition.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.