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Plan vs Attempt - What's the difference?

plan | attempt |

As nouns the difference between plan and attempt

is that plan is a tablet (for writing and erasing) while attempt is the action of trying at something.

As a verb attempt is

to try.

plan

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A drawing showing technical details of a building, machine, etc., with unwanted details omitted, and often using symbols rather than detailed drawing to represent doors, valves, etc.
  • The plans for many important buildings were once publicly available.
  • A set of intended actions, usually mutually related, through which one expects to achieve a goal.
  • He didn't really have a plan ; he had a goal and a habit of control.
  • A two-dimensional drawing of a building as seen from above with obscuring or irrelevant details such as roof removed, or of a floor of a building, revealing the internal layout; as distinct from the elevation.
  • Seen in plan , the building had numerous passageways not apparent to visitors.
  • A method; a way of procedure; a custom.
  • * Wordsworth
  • The simple plan , / That they should take who have the power, / And they should keep who can.

    Usage notes

    * A plan ("set of intended actions") can be developed, executed, implemented, ignored, abandoned, scrapped, changed, etc.

    Synonyms

    * (drawing of a building from above): floor plan

    Derived terms

    * battleplan * floor plan * business plan * development plan * marketing plan * masterplan * game plan * contingency plan * action plan * escalation plan * lesson plan * plan A * plan B * price plan * rate plan

    Verb

    (plann)
  • To design (a building, machine, etc.).
  • To create a plan for.
  • To intend.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Can China clean up fast enough? , passage=It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.}}
  • See plan on.
  • To make a plan.
  • Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See

    Derived terms

    * planner * plan on * plan out

    Statistics

    *

    attempt

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To try.
  • I attempted to sing, but my throat was too hoarse.
    to attempt an escape from prison
  • * Longfellow
  • Something attempted , something done, / Has earned a night's repose.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Sarah Glaz
  • , title= 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.}}
  • (obsolete) To try to move, by entreaty, by afflictions, or by temptations; to tempt.
  • * Thackeray
  • It made the laughter of an afternoon / That Vivien should attempt the blameless king.
  • (archaic) To try to win, subdue, or overcome.
  • one who attempts the virtue of a woman
  • * Shakespeare
  • Dear sir, of force I must attempt you further: / Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute.
  • (archaic) To attack; to make an effort or attack upon; to try to take by force.
  • to attempt the enemy's camp
  • * Motley
  • without attempting his adversary's life

    Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See

    Synonyms

    * take a stab at, take a run at

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • 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= 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}}
  • 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)
  • 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 * try

    Statistics

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