What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Effort vs Mistake - What's the difference?

effort | mistake |

As nouns the difference between effort and mistake

is that effort is the work involved in performing an activity; exertion while mistake is an error; a blunder.

As verbs the difference between effort and mistake

is that effort is (uncommon|intransitive) to make an effort while mistake is to understand wrongly, taking one thing for another, or someone for someone else.

effort

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The work involved in performing an activity; exertion.
  • * , chapter=23
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=June 22, author=Press Association, work=The Guardian
  • , title= Manchester United offer Park Ji-sung a new two-year contract , passage=The 30-year-old South Korean, who joined United in 2005, retired from international duty after last season's Asian Cup in an effort to prolong his club}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame.}}
  • An endeavour.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03, author=William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter
  • , volume=100, issue=2, page=87, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= The British Longitude Act Reconsidered , 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.}}
  • A force acting on a body in the direction of its motion.
  • (Rankine)

    Usage notes

    * Adjectives often used with "effort": conscious, good, poor, etc.

    Synonyms

    *

    Derived terms

    * best efforts * centre of effort * effort distance * effortless * make an effort

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (uncommon) To make an effort.
  • (obsolete) To stimulate.
  • * Fuller
  • He efforted his spirits.

    Statistics

    * ----

    mistake

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An error; a blunder.
  • * 1877 , Henry Heth, quoting , in "Causes of the Defeat of Gen. Lee's Army at the Battle of GettysburgOpinions of Leading Confederate Soldiers.", Southern Historical Society Papers (1877), editor Rev. J. WM. Jones [http://books.google.com/books?id=iDIFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA292&dq=lee+%22mistakes+were+made%22&hl=en&ei=fchaTbu4L8L98AaVs4n-DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=lee%20%22mistakes%20were%20made%22&f=false]
  • After it is all over, as stupid a fellow as I am can see that mistakes' were made. I notice, however, that my ' mistakes are never told me until it is too late.
  • (baseball) A pitch which was intended to be pitched in a hard to hit location, but instead ends up in an easy to hit place
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Usage notes

    * Usually make a mistake. See

    Verb

  • To understand wrongly, taking one thing for another, or someone for someone else.
  • Sorry, I mistook you for my brother. You look very similar.
  • * Shakespeare
  • My father's purposes have been mistook .
  • * Johnson
  • A man may mistake the love of virtue for the practice of it.
  • To commit an unintentional error; to do or think something wrong.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • Servants mistake , and sometimes occasion misunderstanding among friends.
  • (obsolete, rare) To take or choose wrongly.
  • (Shakespeare)

    Derived terms

    * mistakeless