“an attempt”

The following 3 entries include the term an attempt.

an attempt on someone's life

idiom

: an act of trying to kill someone : a usually unsuccessful effort to kill someone

See the full definition

make an attempt

idiom

: to try

See the full definition

make an attempt on (someone's) life

idiom

: to try to kill someone

See the full definition

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of gust

See Definitions and Examples »

Test Your Vocabulary

Face Your Fears

  • clown-mask
  • Arachnophobia is the fear of what multi-legged creatures?
Name That Thing

You know what it looks like… but what is it called?

TAKE THE QUIZ
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.

Pick the best words!

PLAY
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
couple-laugh-cafe
Quiz: Foreign Phrases You Should Know Check out your bona fides and avoid any faux pas.
See All