Attempt vs Undertake - What's the difference?
attempt | undertake |
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)
(label) To take upon oneself; to start, to embark on (a specific task etc.).
*(John Milton) (1608-1674)
*:To second, or oppose, or undertake / The perilous attempt.
(label) To commit oneself (to an obligation, activity etc.).
:
*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
*:I'll undertake to land them on our coast.
(label) To overtake on the wrong side.
:
To pledge; to assert, assure; to dare say.
*, Bk.VII:
*:"I have now aspyed one knyght," he seyde, "that woll play hys play at the justys, I undirtake ."
*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
*:And those two counties I will undertake / Your grace shall well and quietly enjoiy.
*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
*:And he was not right fat, I undertake .
* (1665-1728)
*:I dare undertake they will not lose their labour.
To take by trickery; to trap, to seize upon.
*:
*:there came fourty knyghtes to sire Darras // So sire Tristram endured there grete payne / for sekenesse had vndertake hym / and that is the grettest payne a prysoner maye haue
(label) To assume, as a character; to take on.
:(Shakespeare)
(label) To engage with; to attack.
*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
*:It is not fit your lordship should undertake every companion that you give offence to.
(label) To have knowledge of; to hear.
:(Spenser)
(label) To have or take charge of.
*(Geoffrey Chaucer) (c.1343-1400)
*:Keep well those that ye undertake .
*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
*:who undertakes you to your end
In obsolete terms the difference between attempt and undertake
is that attempt is to try to move, by entreaty, by afflictions, or by temptations; to tempt while undertake is to have or take charge of.As verbs the difference between attempt and undertake
is that attempt is to try while undertake is to take upon oneself; to start, to embark on (a specific task etc.).As a noun attempt
is the action of trying at something.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}}