take/make a stab at

idiom

: to try (doing something)
She took/made a stab at solving the problem.

Examples of take/make a stab at in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Bills that at least would begin to make a stab at it always seem to fail in the California State Legislature. Dallas News, 30 Aug. 2022 Knowing that Bernstein was dating Nora Ephron, whose parents were screenwriters, Woodward suggested that the couple take a stab at writing a screenplay themselves. Washington Post, 9 June 2022 Advertisement - Continue Reading Below 10 Mason Jar Advice and Prediction Cards $15 at Amazon Let guests take a stab at guessing the baby's date and time of birth, eye color, and more, as well as leave words of wisdom for the new parents. Amy Mitchell, Country Living, 30 June 2023 Perseverance will make a stab at that, but human rock hounds, capable of traveling far over difficult terrain, climbing, digging, doing delicate work and intuitively following up clues, can do that job vastly better. Robert Zubrin, Scientific American, 25 Mar. 2021 Her past doesn’t excuse her violent and negligent behavior, but does take a stab at explaining it. Anne Cohen, refinery29.com, 24 Nov. 2020 Parker Posey wants to take a stab at another Scream movie despite her character's grisly — and seemingly pretty definitive — death in Scream 3. Jessica Wang, EW.com, 18 Apr. 2023 To keep your feet on solid ground, here are some analog experiments—custom-designed for your zodiac sign—to take a stab at during this trying time period. The Astrotwins, ELLE, 1 Apr. 2023 Bottoms’ stars are all in their mid-to-late 20s, and the film doesn’t even take a stab at trying to age them down visually, but that kind of enhances the humor. Emma Specter, Vogue, 13 Mar. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'take/make a stab at.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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Cite this Entry

“Take/make a stab at.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/take%2Fmake%20a%20stab%20at. Accessed 24 Sep. 2023.

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