Attempt vs Test - What's the difference?
attempt | test | Related terms |
To try.
* Longfellow
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=
, title= (obsolete) To try to move, by entreaty, by afflictions, or by temptations; to tempt.
* Thackeray
(archaic) To try to win, subdue, or overcome.
* Shakespeare
(archaic) To attack; to make an effort or attack upon; to try to take by force.
* Motley
The action of trying at something.
* We made an attempt to cross the stream, but didn't manage.
* This poem is much better than the feeble attempt of mine.
* It was worth the attempt .
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03
, author=William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter
, title=The British Longitude Act Reconsidered
, volume=100, issue=2, page=87
, magazine=
An assault or attack, especially an assassination attempt.
* 1584' ''No man can charge us of any '''attempt against the realm. (Allen's Defence Of English Catholics, cited after Edinburgh review 1883, p. 378)
A cupel or cupelling hearth in which precious metals are melted for trial and refinement.
A , trial.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April
, author=Colin Allen
, title=Do I See What You See?
, volume=100, issue=2, page=168
, magazine=(American Scientist)
(academia) An examination, given often during the academic term.
A session in which a product or piece of equipment is examined under everyday or extreme conditions to evaluate its durability, etc.
A Test match.
(marine biology) The external calciferous shell, or endoskeleton, of an echinoderm, e.g. sand dollars]] and sea urchins.
(botany) Testa; seed coat.
Judgment; distinction; discrimination.
* Dryden
To refine (gold, silver, etc.) in a test or cupel; to subject to cupellation.
To .
To put to the proof; to prove the truth, genuineness, or quality of by experiment, or by some principle or standard; to try.
* Washington
(academics) To administer or assign an examination, often given during the academic term, to (somebody).
To place a product or piece of equipment under everyday and/or extreme conditions and examine it for its durability, etc.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author=
, title= (copulative) To be shown to be by test.
(chemistry) To examine or try, as by the use of some reagent.
(obsolete) A witness.
* Ld. Berners
In obsolete terms the difference between attempt and test
is that attempt is to try to move, by entreaty, by afflictions, or by temptations; to tempt while test is to make a testament, or will.As verbs the difference between attempt and test
is that attempt is to try while test is to refine (gold, silver, etc.) in a test or cupel; to subject to cupellation.As nouns the difference between attempt and test
is that attempt is the action of trying at something while test is a cupel or cupelling hearth in which precious metals are melted for trial and refinement.attempt
English
Verb
(en verb)- I attempted to sing, but my throat was too hoarse.
- to attempt an escape from prison
- Something attempted , something done, / Has earned a night's repose.
Sarah Glaz
Ode to Prime Numbers, volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.}}
- It made the laughter of an afternoon / That Vivien should attempt the blameless king.
- one who attempts the virtue of a woman
- Dear sir, of force I must attempt you further: / Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute.
- to attempt the enemy's camp
- without attempting his adversary's life
Usage notes
* This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . SeeSynonyms
* take a stab at, take a run atNoun
(en noun)citation, passage=But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea}}
Usage notes
* Adjectives often applied to "attempt": first, failed, desperate, last, half-hearted, unsuccessful, serious, successful, feeble, new, honest, vain, sincere, ambitious, earnest, clumsy, direct, hard, brilliant, official, useless, clever, sophisticated, amateurish.Synonyms
* effort * tryStatistics
*External links
* * * English control verbstest
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) ; see terra, thirst.Noun
(en noun)citation, passage=Numerous experimental tests and other observations have been offered in favor of animal mind reading, and although many scientists are skeptical, others assert that humans are not the only species capable of representing what others do and don’t perceive and know.}}
- Who would excel, when few can make a test / Betwixt indifferent writing and the best?
Synonyms
* (challenge) challenge, trial * (sense) quiz, examinationAntonyms
* (challenge) breeze * (sense) recessDerived terms
* acid test * babysitter test * blood test * flame test * inkblot test * litmus test * nose test * Rorschach test * smell test * smoke test * sniff test * stress test * test case * tester * test tubeDescendants
* German: (l) * Dutch: (l)Verb
(en verb)- Climbing the mountain tested our stamina.
- to test''' the soundness of a principle; to '''test the validity of an argument
- Experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution.
Charles T. Ambrose
Alzheimer’s Disease, volume=101, issue=3, page=200, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems— […]. Such a slow-release device containing angiogenic factors could be placed on the pia mater covering the cerebral cortex and tested in persons with senile dementia in long term studies.}}
- to test a solution by litmus paper
Descendants
* German: (l)Etymology 2
From (etyl) tester, from (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)- Prelates and great lords of England, who were for the more surety tests of that deed.