What is the difference between try and attempt?
try | attempt |
To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.
* , chapter=22
, title= *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-21, volume=411, issue=8892, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (label) To divide; to separate.
# To separate (precious metal etc.) from the ore by melting; to purify, refine.
#* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.vii:
# (label) To winnow; to sift; to pick out; frequently followed by out .
To test, to work out.
# To make an experiment. Usually followed by a present participle.
# To put to test.
#*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4
, passage=The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.}}
#* 1922 , , Miss Mapp , :
#* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author=
, title= # To taste, sample, etc.
# To prove by experiment; to apply a test to, for the purpose of determining the quality; to examine; to prove; to test.
#* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
# To put on trial.
#* 1900 , , (The House Behind the Cedars) , Chapter I
To experiment, to strive.
# To have or gain knowledge of by experience.
#* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
# To work on something.
# (label) To do; to fare.
# To settle; to decide; to determine; specifically, to decide by an appeal to arms.
#* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
(label) To lie to in heavy weather under just sufficient sail to head into the wind.
To strain; to subject to excessive tests.
An attempt.
An act of tasting or sampling.
(rugby) A score in rugby, analogous to a touchdown in American football.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=October 1
, author=Tom Fordyce
, title=Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland
, work=BBC Sport
(UK, dialect, obsolete) A screen, or sieve, for grain.
(American football) a field goal or extra point
(obsolete) Fine, excellent.
* 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , V.2:
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)
Attempt is a synonym of try.
In obsolete terms the difference between try and attempt
is that try is fine, excellent while attempt is to try to move, by entreaty, by afflictions, or by temptations; to tempt.As an adjective try
is fine, excellent.try
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) . Replaced native (etyl) (from (etyl) (m)).Verb
(en-verb)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.}}
Magician’s brain, passage=[Isaac Newton] was obsessed with alchemy. He spent hours copying alchemical recipes and trying to replicate them in his laboratory. He believed that the Bible contained numerological codes.}}
- euery feend his busie paines applide, / To melt the golden metall, ready to be tride .
- “So mousie shall only find tins on the floor now,” thought Miss Mapp. “Mousie shall try his teeth on tins.”
David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan
Wild Plants to the Rescue, volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
- Let the end try the man.
- The murderer, he recalled, had been tried and sentenced to imprisonment for life, but was pardoned by a merciful governor after serving a year of his sentence.
- Try the Libyan heat or Scythian cold.
- (Milton)
- Left I the court, to see this quarrel tried .
Usage notes
* (to attempt) This is a catenative verb that takes the to'' infinitive. In the future tense, it can take ''and'' instead of ''to . *: * (to make an experiment) This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing) . * SeeSynonyms
* (to attempt) attempt, mint, take a run at, take a stab at * sample, tasteDerived terms
* try-hard * try-miter square * try-off * try on * try-on * try out * try-out * try-outs * try square/try-square * try your luck * trying * try one's handNoun
(tries)- I gave unicycling a try but I couldn’t do it .
- I gave sushi a try but I didn’t like it .
- Today I scored my first try .
citation, page= , passage=But two penalties and a drop-goal from Jonny Wilkinson, despite a host of other wayward attempts, plus a late try from Chris Ashton were enough to send a misfiring England through.}}
- (Holland)
Synonyms
* (an attempt) bash, go, stab, whirl * (an act of tasting or sampling) sampling, taste, tasting * (a score in rugby) touchdown (American football )Derived terms
* give a try * old college try * penalty try * worth a tryEtymology 2
Probably from (etyl) .Adjective
(en adjective)- But he her suppliant hands, those hands of gold, / And eke her feete, those feete of silver trye , […] Chopt off […].
Statistics
*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}}