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at·tempt·ed | \ ə-ˈtem(p)-təd 
\
\Definition of attempted
: having been tried without success
an attempted suicide an attempted takeover especially, law : characterized by an intent to commit and effort taken to commit a specified crime that fails or is prevented an attempted robbery was charged with attempted murder
Examples of attempted in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web In response, many companies posted blank black squares to their social media feeds in an attempted show of solidarity.
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Shauna Beni, Condé Nast Traveler, "Black Travel Alliance Wants to Hold Travel Brands Accountable," 16 June 2020 Images of black squares flooded Instagram on Tuesday in an attempted show of support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
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Robert Hackett, Fortune, "The most popular police scanner app is donating proceeds to charity," 3 June 2020 Neither of the people who reported the attempted fraud followed through with the request, and no money was lost.
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cleveland, "Man with no transportation steals bike from garage: Rocky River Police Blotter," 30 Apr. 2020 Bloomberg questionably labelled the attempted disruption as such.
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Robert Hackett, Fortune, "Should the government increase surveillance to help fight the coronavirus?," 18 Mar. 2020 The State Bureau of Investigation has obtained four attempted murder warrants against 32-year-old Derrick Hightower, SBI officials confirm.
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Carol Robinson | Crobinson@al.com, al, "Man suspected in multiple Alabama murders charged for shooting at Birmingham police," 23 Apr. 2020 The driver and passenger of the vehicle that fled an attempted street race were arrested in Phoenix last week, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
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Jamie Landers, azcentral, "DPS troopers break up Phoenix street racers twice; driver, passenger arrested," 14 Apr. 2020 An attempted vehicle stop failed and a chase ensued.
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Fox News, "Los Angeles prosecutors charge man with stealing hearse with body inside," 4 Mar. 2020 Last year in Santa Clara County, defense attorneys in an attempted burglary case sought posts and private messages from users of the Nextdoor social network.
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Megan Cassidy, SFChronicle.com, "Facebook, Twitter hold evidence that could save people from prison. And they’re not giving it up," 21 Jan. 2020
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'attempted.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Time Traveler for attempted
The first known use of attempted was circa 1513
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