1
as in tries
an effort to do or accomplish something
it took several attempts before we made good ice cream with an old-fashioned hand-cranked ice cream freezer
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in attacks
the act or action of setting upon with force or violence
several attempts on the life of the country's chief drug enforcement official
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in strives
to make an effort to do
after attempting—and failing—to start the lawn mower on my own, I finally succeeded with a neighbor's help don't even attempt walking on your broken foot
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of attempts
Mark Lazerus, New York Times, 27 Apr. 2026
Previous attempts at extracting uranium ions have relied on a passive system in which adsorbents remain stationary and wait for uranium ions to pass through them for trapping.
—Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 27 Apr. 2026
James was 0 for 3 from long range, Marcus Smart missed both of his attempts and Luke Kennard was 0 for 3.
—CBS News, 27 Apr. 2026
White’s Embiid rejection came on one of the few layup attempts by the superstar big man.
—Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 27 Apr. 2026
Cassie passes her days filming salacious content around the house, dressed as everything from a dog to a baby in her attempts to generate a following and get paid.
—Zoe Papelis, Vulture, 27 Apr. 2026
Despite the Lakers winning on the boards for the first time in the series, outrebounding the Rockets 37-35 (Houston had an 11-10 edge on the offensive glass), the Rockets forced their way to the free-throw line for 10 more attempts.
—Benjamin Royer, Oc Register, 27 Apr. 2026
The Hawks missed all nine of their 3-point attempts in the quarter.
—C.j. Holmes, New York Daily News, 21 Apr. 2026
However, the attempts at intervention were too late.
—Alex Gurley, PEOPLE, 21 Apr. 2026
Meghan Montemurro, Chicago Tribune, 27 Apr. 2026
The wordless shot of the three guys enjoying doughnuts on their stakeout is worth a thousand hilarious words, and the back-and-forth where Greg attempts to get Officer Rory to convince Tommy to stay in college is very funny.
—Erin Qualey, Vulture, 27 Apr. 2026
Armenia was reliant on its close alliance with Russia for the first three decades of its existence, ensuring its protection against Azerbaijani attempts to take Nagorno-Karabakh, which was internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but under the de facto control of Armenia.
—Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 25 Apr. 2026
When first responders eventually made it to the scene, CPR attempts on the twins were unsuccessful.
—Escher Walcott, PEOPLE, 25 Apr. 2026
The then-club record £14million signing of Didier Ndong was disastrous, as were Moyes’ attempts to bring his Everton band back together with the signings of Victor Anichebe, Pienaar, Bryan Oviedo and Darron Gibson.
—Patrick Boyland, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2026
While the High Court case is compiled, more protests are planned, including a fun run in Brisbane – from a river to the sea – to try to involve the broader public, who may not care about war in Gaza, but should care, organizers argue, about government attempts to censor speech.
—Cnn.com Wire Service, Mercury News, 25 Apr. 2026
Walker converted zero short yardage rushing attempts a year ago.
—Sam McDowell, Kansas City Star, 25 Apr. 2026
Cozytime Lumo attempts to offer both by combining infrared cooking with AI automation that always picks the ideal settings for different foods.
—Maryna Holovnova, New Atlas, 24 Apr. 2026
Noun
Harley’s been much more noticeable in this series and, again, has excellent underlying numbers — his 23 shot attempts are second only to Heiskanen, and his nine shots on goal are second only to Robertson.
—Mark Lazerus, New York Times, 27 Apr. 2026
Previous attempts at extracting uranium ions have relied on a passive system in which adsorbents remain stationary and wait for uranium ions to pass through them for trapping.
—Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 27 Apr. 2026
James was 0 for 3 from long range, Marcus Smart missed both of his attempts and Luke Kennard was 0 for 3.
—CBS News, 27 Apr. 2026
White’s Embiid rejection came on one of the few layup attempts by the superstar big man.
—Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 27 Apr. 2026
Cassie passes her days filming salacious content around the house, dressed as everything from a dog to a baby in her attempts to generate a following and get paid.
—Zoe Papelis, Vulture, 27 Apr. 2026
Despite the Lakers winning on the boards for the first time in the series, outrebounding the Rockets 37-35 (Houston had an 11-10 edge on the offensive glass), the Rockets forced their way to the free-throw line for 10 more attempts.
—Benjamin Royer, Oc Register, 27 Apr. 2026
The Hawks missed all nine of their 3-point attempts in the quarter.
—C.j. Holmes, New York Daily News, 21 Apr. 2026
However, the attempts at intervention were too late.
—Alex Gurley, PEOPLE, 21 Apr. 2026
Verb
Struggles with runners in scoring position hurt comeback attempts.
—Meghan Montemurro, Chicago Tribune, 27 Apr. 2026
The wordless shot of the three guys enjoying doughnuts on their stakeout is worth a thousand hilarious words, and the back-and-forth where Greg attempts to get Officer Rory to convince Tommy to stay in college is very funny.
—Erin Qualey, Vulture, 27 Apr. 2026
Armenia was reliant on its close alliance with Russia for the first three decades of its existence, ensuring its protection against Azerbaijani attempts to take Nagorno-Karabakh, which was internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but under the de facto control of Armenia.
—Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 25 Apr. 2026
When first responders eventually made it to the scene, CPR attempts on the twins were unsuccessful.
—Escher Walcott, PEOPLE, 25 Apr. 2026
The then-club record £14million signing of Didier Ndong was disastrous, as were Moyes’ attempts to bring his Everton band back together with the signings of Victor Anichebe, Pienaar, Bryan Oviedo and Darron Gibson.
—Patrick Boyland, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2026
While the High Court case is compiled, more protests are planned, including a fun run in Brisbane – from a river to the sea – to try to involve the broader public, who may not care about war in Gaza, but should care, organizers argue, about government attempts to censor speech.
—Cnn.com Wire Service, Mercury News, 25 Apr. 2026
Walker converted zero short yardage rushing attempts a year ago.
—Sam McDowell, Kansas City Star, 25 Apr. 2026
Cozytime Lumo attempts to offer both by combining infrared cooking with AI automation that always picks the ideal settings for different foods.
—Maryna Holovnova, New Atlas, 24 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for attempts
Noun
-
There had been doubt over the 2026 launch following the second failure of the H3 in seven tries in December 2025, but the issue was soon isolated as a payload fairing separation anomaly, clearing the way for MMX to proceed.—
Andrew Jones,
Space.com,
23 Apr. 2026
-
The duck confit and salmon tagine are must-tries, and the candlelit atmosphere pairs perfectly with excellent cocktails.—
Lauren Schuster,
Miami Herald,
22 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Both Hezbollah and Israel have have defended their attacks and claimed that the other has violated the ceasefire.—
Sarah Dean,
NBC news,
25 Apr. 2026
-
While disrupting the business of an American multinational company may seem a pallid response to the destruction of an Iranian primary school where more than a hundred children were killed, such asymmetric attacks in the physical and digital realms have been a feature of this conflict.—
Sue Halpern,
New Yorker,
24 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Add in Michael’s goth love interest, Star (Maria Wirries), and the musical strives to capture some of the cult appeal of the source musical, the plot of which David Hornsby and Chris Hoch’s book follows closely with one notable change.—
Chris Jones,
New York Daily News,
27 Apr. 2026
-
The Eurovision contest strives to put pop music before politics but has repeatedly been embroiled in world events.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
23 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Does this mean those pop-goes-punk comp albums are coming back?—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
13 Apr. 2026
-
Except then there’s the chance of being FUNNELED, placed on the rails and headed for a very specific destination, instead of the OPEN-WORLD anything-goes of traditional D&D.—
Christopher Borrelli,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
No one was injured in the assaults, which included a shooting at a police station in the rural area of Jamundi, and an attack on a Civil Aviation radar facility in El Tambo, where authorities took down three explosives-laden drones.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
25 Apr. 2026
-
American forces have used thousands of missiles in attacking Iran while allies have powered through stockpiles in fending off Tehran’s assaults, leaving reserves low and forcing the Pentagon to rush hardware to the Gulf.—
Semafor Events,
semafor.com,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Here, his stabs at form feel more purposeful.—
Emma Madden,
Pitchfork,
14 Apr. 2026
-
But his cartoons, and some early stabs at photography, were not enough to get him into a local art school.—
Chris Wiley,
New Yorker,
28 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
He is stripped of his business license, faces police raids and arrests, and is forced to shut down the testing centre.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
24 Apr. 2026
-
Within days, the farm raids ended.—
Anna Giaritelli,
The Washington Examiner,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The army has retaken territory from ethnic militias, including the Three Brotherhood Alliance, which had launched powerful offensives along with pro-democracy resistance forces in northeastern Myanmar near the Chinese border and in western Myanmar.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
21 Apr. 2026
-
Putin is widely expected to launch new offensives as the weather in Ukraine improves, piling further pressure on Kyiv.—
Hanna Arhirova,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Attempts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/attempts. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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