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
Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 1 June 2026
Years of unrelenting pressure—smear campaigns, interrogations, arrests, a violent raid, and underhanded attempts at control—had succeeded in breaking it.
—Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, The Atlantic, 1 June 2026
Advertisement The resulting docuseries attempts, above all, to make Richards’ experience comprehensible—to place a familiar, utterly recognizable person at the center of a story many people assume could never touch them.
—Jp Mangalindan, Time, 1 June 2026
Witt has recorded 17 steals on 20 attempts.
—Data Skrive, New York Times, 1 June 2026
Veterans with cancer face a higher risk of suicide attempts, according to new research from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).
—Angelica Stabile, FOXNews.com, 1 June 2026
The Broncos had 39 pass attempts between Jarrett Stidham and Sam Ehlinger, who completed 30.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 25 May 2026
Only 49 of Duren’s 914 total field-goal attempts between the regular season and the playoffs came beyond 10 feet from the basket.
—Bryan Toporek, Forbes.com, 25 May 2026
Literary Hub, 3 June 2026
This process of awakening is what Media Hostages attempts to deliver.
—Jonathan Odden, Artforum, 2 June 2026
This mission is a necessary step before NASA attempts a moon landing in 2028.
—Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 2 June 2026
The movie adapts Woolf’s novel of the same name, as female astronomer Katharine Hilbery (Bennett) attempts to free herself from the patriarchal constraints of the early 20th century.
—Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 1 June 2026
Still, Fiedler shows convincingly enough that American writers’ attempts to adapt the seduction narrative to our concerns—to reimagine it so as to preserve our enduring sense of ourselves as innocents—explain our literature’s peculiar aversions and resultant compensations.
—Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 1 June 2026
But a newer model is emerging—one that attempts to combine hospitality, portfolio diversification, and private equity-style investing into a single offering.
—Jeff Fromm, Forbes.com, 1 June 2026
Duncan winces, then again attempts to change the subject.
—Matt Cabral, Entertainment Weekly, 1 June 2026
Jakirovic attempts the local accent on the final word of that sentence and begins to laugh.
—Philip Buckingham, New York Times, 22 May 2026
Noun
His firm, Kroll, fields impersonation attempts constantly — fake emails, fake invoices, fake voices purporting to be him.
—Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 1 June 2026
Years of unrelenting pressure—smear campaigns, interrogations, arrests, a violent raid, and underhanded attempts at control—had succeeded in breaking it.
—Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, The Atlantic, 1 June 2026
Advertisement The resulting docuseries attempts, above all, to make Richards’ experience comprehensible—to place a familiar, utterly recognizable person at the center of a story many people assume could never touch them.
—Jp Mangalindan, Time, 1 June 2026
Witt has recorded 17 steals on 20 attempts.
—Data Skrive, New York Times, 1 June 2026
Veterans with cancer face a higher risk of suicide attempts, according to new research from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).
—Angelica Stabile, FOXNews.com, 1 June 2026
The Broncos had 39 pass attempts between Jarrett Stidham and Sam Ehlinger, who completed 30.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 25 May 2026
Only 49 of Duren’s 914 total field-goal attempts between the regular season and the playoffs came beyond 10 feet from the basket.
—Bryan Toporek, Forbes.com, 25 May 2026
Verb
Guinevere, just like Natalie from All My Children, has an evil sister who attempts to step into her life and seduce her husband.
—Literary Hub, 3 June 2026
This process of awakening is what Media Hostages attempts to deliver.
—Jonathan Odden, Artforum, 2 June 2026
This mission is a necessary step before NASA attempts a moon landing in 2028.
—Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 2 June 2026
The movie adapts Woolf’s novel of the same name, as female astronomer Katharine Hilbery (Bennett) attempts to free herself from the patriarchal constraints of the early 20th century.
—Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 1 June 2026
Still, Fiedler shows convincingly enough that American writers’ attempts to adapt the seduction narrative to our concerns—to reimagine it so as to preserve our enduring sense of ourselves as innocents—explain our literature’s peculiar aversions and resultant compensations.
—Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 1 June 2026
But a newer model is emerging—one that attempts to combine hospitality, portfolio diversification, and private equity-style investing into a single offering.
—Jeff Fromm, Forbes.com, 1 June 2026
Duncan winces, then again attempts to change the subject.
—Matt Cabral, Entertainment Weekly, 1 June 2026
Jakirovic attempts the local accent on the final word of that sentence and begins to laugh.
—Philip Buckingham, New York Times, 22 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for attempts
Noun
-
At least the Wordle Bot took five tries!—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
27 May 2026
-
Keldon Johnson scored 15 off the bench for San Antonio, which missed 29 of its 41 3-point tries.—
Tim Reynolds,
Twin Cities,
27 May 2026
Noun
-
Each one would need to stock more interceptors and operate with escort ships to fend off attacks.—
Editorial,
Boston Herald,
30 May 2026
-
Simple steps like version pinning or requiring a cool-down period before new library releases are available to developers can go a very long way toward blunting the supply chain attacks that are about to become far more common.—
Philip Martin,
Fortune,
29 May 2026
Verb
-
In a world of jaded billionaires, psychiatrist-gurus, bio-hacked tech bros, AI labs, and disillusioned teens being optimized in elite private schools, an audacious data-mining CEO (Magnussen) strives to turn insight and influence into profit and power.—
Rosy Cordero,
Deadline,
3 June 2026
-
Denver Fringe strives to make the arts accessible to all, with tickets priced at $20 each for most shows.—
Laura Daily,
Denver Post,
3 June 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
-
The girl was 11 years old when the assaults began, according to prosecutors.—
Logan Smith,
CBS News,
31 May 2026
-
Some detailed violent interactions with customers, including robberies and physical assaults, and said the company didn’t provide safety training.—
Itzel Luna,
Los Angeles Times,
30 May 2026
Noun
-
The keyboard on the TravelMate P6 was perfectly satisfactory in my brief stabs at typing.—
John Burek,
PC Magazine,
29 May 2026
-
That definitely took a lot of stabs.—
Mya Abraham,
VIBE.com,
19 May 2026
Noun
-
Prosecutors say Ian Roberts spent nearly two decades working in urban schools without authorization, using a counterfeit Social Security card as Des Moines’ leader, even as Trump-era ICE raids intensified.—
Hannah Fingerhut,
Los Angeles Times,
29 May 2026
-
The bakery became a gathering point for community support during federal immigration raids in Charlotte last fall, when Betancur temporarily closed the shop for the first time in its history.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
29 May 2026
Noun
-
The twin offensives are targeting Hamas and Hezbollah respectively, though critics argue that the operations are motivated at least in part by domestic politics — Israel is due to hold elections by October — and are amplifying troubling humanitarian situations in Gaza and Lebanon.—
Prashant Rao,
semafor.com,
29 May 2026
-
In response, guerrilla groups of liberals and the left emerged, gathering thousands of people in rural areas and launching offensives against the army.—
Roberto Andrés,
The Dial,
28 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Attempts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/attempts. Accessed 5 Jun. 2026.
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