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.

Try vs Wry - What's the difference?

try | wry |

As verbs the difference between try and wry

is that try is to attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive while wry is to turn (away); to swerve or deviate.

As adjectives the difference between try and wry

is that try is fine, excellent while wry is turned away, contorted (of the face or body).

As a noun try

is an attempt.

try

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) . Replaced native (etyl) (from (etyl) (m)).

Verb

(en-verb)
  • To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.
  • * , chapter=22
  • , title= 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.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-21, volume=411, issue=8892, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= 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.}}
  • (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:
  • euery feend his busie paines applide, / To melt the golden metall, ready to be tride .
  • # (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 , :
  • “So mousie shall only find tins on the floor now,” thought Miss Mapp. “Mousie shall try his teeth on tins.”
  • #* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan
  • , title= Wild Plants to the Rescue , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
  • # 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)
  • Let the end try the man.
  • # To put on trial.
  • #* 1900 , , (The House Behind the Cedars) , Chapter I
  • 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.
  • To experiment, to strive.
  • # To have or gain knowledge of by experience.
  • #* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • Try the Libyan heat or Scythian cold.
  • (Milton)
  • # 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)
  • Left I the court, to see this quarrel tried .
  • (label) To lie to in heavy weather under just sufficient sail to head into the wind.
  • To strain; to subject to excessive tests.
  • 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) . * See
    Synonyms
    * (to attempt) attempt, mint, take a run at, take a stab at * sample, taste
    Derived 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 hand

    Noun

    (tries)
  • An attempt.
  • I gave unicycling a try but I couldn’t do it .
  • An act of tasting or sampling.
  • I gave sushi a try but I didn’t like it .
  • (rugby) A score in rugby, analogous to a touchdown in American football.
  • Today I scored my first try .
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=October 1 , author=Tom Fordyce , title=Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland , work=BBC Sport 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.}}
  • (UK, dialect, obsolete) A screen, or sieve, for grain.
  • (Holland)
  • (American football) a field goal or extra point
  • 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 try

    Etymology 2

    Probably from (etyl) .

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (obsolete) Fine, excellent.
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , V.2:
  • But he her suppliant hands, those hands of gold, / And eke her feete, those feete of silver trye , […] Chopt off […].

    Statistics

    *

    wry

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) wrien, from (etyl) . Compare awry, wriggle.

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Turned away, contorted (of the face or body).
  • * 1837 , , The Pickwick Papers , ch. 17:
  • '"Why, you snivelling, wry -faced, puny villain," gasped old Lobbs.
  • * 1913 , , The Motion Picture Chums at Seaside Park , ch. 11:
  • “Humph! Had to,” said Pep with a wry grimace.
  • Dryly humorous; sardonic or bitterly ironic.
  • * 1871 , , The Haunted Baronet , ch. 6:
  • "[T]he master says a wry word now and then; and so ye let your spirits go down, don't ye see, and all sorts o' fancies comes into your head."
  • Twisted, bent, crooked.
  • Deviating from the right direction; misdirected; out of place.
  • * 1820 , , The Abbot , ch. 34:
  • Catherine hath made a wry stitch in her broidery, when she was thinking of something else than her work.
  • * 1876 , , The Works and Life of Walter Savage Landor , vol. IV, Imaginary Conversations, Third Series: Dialogues of Literary Men, ch. 6—Milton and Andrew Marvel, p. 155 (Google preview):
  • . . . the wry rigour of our neighbours, who never take up an old idea without some extravagance in its application.
    Derived terms
    * wryly * awry

    Verb

  • (obsolete) To turn (away); to swerve or deviate.
  • * 1535 , , Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation , ch. 18:
  • God pricketh them of his great goodness still. And the grief of this great pang pincheth them at the heart, and of wickedness they wry away.
  • * , Cymbeline , act 5, sc. 1:
  • You married ones,
    If each of you should take this course, how many
    Must murder wives much better than themselves
    For wrying but a little!
  • (obsolete) To divert; to cause to turn away.
  • To twist or contort (the body, face etc.).
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) wryen, wrien, wreon, wrihen, from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • (obsolete) To cover; clothe; cover up; cloak; hide.