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Endeavor vs Difficulty - What's the difference?

endeavor | difficulty | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between endeavor and difficulty

is that endeavor is a sincere attempt; a determined or assiduous effort towards a specific goal while difficulty is the state of being difficult, or hard to do.

As a verb endeavor

is to exert oneself.

endeavor

English

(wikipedia endeavor)

Alternative forms

* (l) (UK)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A sincere attempt; a determined or assiduous effort towards a specific goal.
  • * 1640 , , part II, chapter 28:
    • And these three: 1. the law over them that have sovereign power; 2. their duty; 3. their profit: are one and the same thing contained in this sentence, Salus populi suprema lex ; by which must be understood, not the mere preservation of their lives, but generally their benefit and good. So that this is the general law for sovereigns: that they procure, to the uttermost of their endeavour , the good of the people.
  • * 1873 , , volume 2, page 184:
    • As we shall find it necessary, in our endeavours to bring electrical phenomena within the province of dynamics, to have our dynamical ideas in a state fit for direct application to physical questions we shall devote this chapter to an exposition of these dynamical ideas from a physical point of view.
  • Enterprise; assiduous or persistent activity.
  • * 1748 , David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral (London: Oxford University Press, 1973), § 9:
    • The like has been the endeavour of critics, logicians, and even politicians .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To exert oneself.
  • * Alexander Pope:
    • And such were praised who but endeavoured well.
  • To attempt through application of effort (to do something); to try strenuously.
  • * 1748 , David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral (London: Oxford University Press, 1973), § 2:
    • The other species of philosophers consider man in the light of a reasonable rather than an active being, and endeavour to form his understanding more than cultivate his manners.
  • (obsolete) To attempt (something).
  • * Ld. Chatham:
    • It is our duty to endeavour the recovery of these beneficial subjects.
  • * 1669 May 18, Sir Isaac Newton, Letter (to Francis Aston):
    • If you be affronted, it is better, in a foreign country, to pass it by in silence, and with a jest, though with some dishonour, than to endeavour revenge; for, in the first case, your credit's ne'er the worse when you return into England, or come into other company that have not heard of the quarrel.
  • To work with purpose.
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April
    • , author=John T. Jost , title=Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)? , volume=100, issue=2, page=162 , magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record. With this biological framework in place, Corning endeavors to show that the capitalist system as currently practiced in the United States and elsewhere is manifestly unfair.}}

    Synonyms

    * strive

    difficulty

    English

    (wikipedia difficulty)

    Noun

    (difficulties)
  • The state of being difficult, or hard to do.
  • An obstacle that hinders achievement of a goal.
    • We faced a difficulty .

    Derived terms

    * difficulty level * with difficulty

    Related terms

    * difficile * difficult

    External links

    * *