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
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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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of attempts
Susan Gill Vardon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Oct. 2025
The offense marched down the field drive after drive following those first three failed attempts, taking advantage of short fields presented to them by punt returns and takeaways.
—Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 26 Oct. 2025
Dallas picked up D'Angelo Russell during the offseason as a stopgap solution, but Russell made just one of his nine shot attempts and mustered six assists through two games.
—Robert Marvi, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Oct. 2025
Payton Pritchard made just 2 of 10 field-goal attempts while scoring eight points over 36 minutes.
—Jay King, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2025
The Mellon family foundation did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment, and attempts by the Times to reach Mellon were unsuccessful.
—Nino Paoli, Fortune, 25 Oct. 2025
Running back Caris Sela led Northwest with 94 yards rushing on 17 attempts, but the Bobcat’s defense had 12 tackles for losses, including seven on Texan quarterback Mark Hartman for minus-62 yards.
—Darren Lauber, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 Oct. 2025
Pineiro finished off the second half’s opening drive with a 43-yard field goal, pushing the lead to 13-3 and making him 17-of-17 on field-goal attempts since replacing Jake Moody in Week 2.
—Cam Inman, Mercury News, 20 Oct. 2025
Tensions were already high between Washington and Bogotá over President Gustavo Petro’s attempts to curb drug trafficking, threatening the countries’ close security and commercial relations.
—J.d. Capelouto, semafor.com, 19 Oct. 2025
Bobby Allyn, NPR, 27 Oct. 2025
But multiple drives stalled for Pittsburgh, leading to Chris Boswell’s multiple field goal attempts, which kept the Steelers in the game.
—Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 27 Oct. 2025
Sophomore forward Micah Robinson led TCU in scoring with 13 points, added six rebounds and made all four of his field goal attempts.
—Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 27 Oct. 2025
Los Angeles went on to win the contest in a 37-10 blowout as Reichard made 1 of 2 field goal attempts to bring him to 14 of 16 this season.
—Andrew McCarty, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Oct. 2025
As Wang attempts to bring a couple back from the edge of crisis, sympathies shift between husband, wife and mistress while emotion, pragmatism and cultural norms collide.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 24 Oct. 2025
In her book Phantasmagoria, Warner attempts to do just that.
—David Wingrave, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
The Broncos have played seven games this season, and three of them have come down to walk-off field goal attempts.
—Parker Gabriel, Denver Post, 21 Oct. 2025
As America attempts to reclaim its pride by whitewashing its unflattering histories, Springsteen’s struggle to balance light and dark on these pointedly American recordings is tremendously poignant.
—Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 19 Oct. 2025
Noun
The city said the suit followed months of attempts to obtain voluntary compliance in response to numerous public records requests for Blain’s messages on private email accounts, text messaging and other applications, which are all subject to disclosure if discussing city business.
—Susan Gill Vardon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Oct. 2025
The offense marched down the field drive after drive following those first three failed attempts, taking advantage of short fields presented to them by punt returns and takeaways.
—Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 26 Oct. 2025
Dallas picked up D'Angelo Russell during the offseason as a stopgap solution, but Russell made just one of his nine shot attempts and mustered six assists through two games.
—Robert Marvi, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Oct. 2025
Payton Pritchard made just 2 of 10 field-goal attempts while scoring eight points over 36 minutes.
—Jay King, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2025
The Mellon family foundation did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment, and attempts by the Times to reach Mellon were unsuccessful.
—Nino Paoli, Fortune, 25 Oct. 2025
Running back Caris Sela led Northwest with 94 yards rushing on 17 attempts, but the Bobcat’s defense had 12 tackles for losses, including seven on Texan quarterback Mark Hartman for minus-62 yards.
—Darren Lauber, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 Oct. 2025
Pineiro finished off the second half’s opening drive with a 43-yard field goal, pushing the lead to 13-3 and making him 17-of-17 on field-goal attempts since replacing Jake Moody in Week 2.
—Cam Inman, Mercury News, 20 Oct. 2025
Tensions were already high between Washington and Bogotá over President Gustavo Petro’s attempts to curb drug trafficking, threatening the countries’ close security and commercial relations.
—J.d. Capelouto, semafor.com, 19 Oct. 2025
Verb
The lax rules are being abused by people using services like Suno and Udio, where anyone can make an AI song that attempts to mimic a real artist in a matter of seconds.
—Bobby Allyn, NPR, 27 Oct. 2025
But multiple drives stalled for Pittsburgh, leading to Chris Boswell’s multiple field goal attempts, which kept the Steelers in the game.
—Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 27 Oct. 2025
Sophomore forward Micah Robinson led TCU in scoring with 13 points, added six rebounds and made all four of his field goal attempts.
—Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 27 Oct. 2025
Los Angeles went on to win the contest in a 37-10 blowout as Reichard made 1 of 2 field goal attempts to bring him to 14 of 16 this season.
—Andrew McCarty, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Oct. 2025
As Wang attempts to bring a couple back from the edge of crisis, sympathies shift between husband, wife and mistress while emotion, pragmatism and cultural norms collide.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 24 Oct. 2025
In her book Phantasmagoria, Warner attempts to do just that.
—David Wingrave, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
The Broncos have played seven games this season, and three of them have come down to walk-off field goal attempts.
—Parker Gabriel, Denver Post, 21 Oct. 2025
As America attempts to reclaim its pride by whitewashing its unflattering histories, Springsteen’s struggle to balance light and dark on these pointedly American recordings is tremendously poignant.
—Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 19 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for attempts
Noun
-
Kicker Brandon Aubrey is 15 of 15 on the year, though, and has nailed all five of his tries from 50-plus yards.—
Luca Evans,
Denver Post,
24 Oct. 2025
-
After several tries, rescuers managed to lure the kitten with food before using a leash pole to snare it around the neck and hoist it to safety.—
Ronnie Li,
USA Today,
21 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Often, one of the pair is more offensive or box-to-box in their profile, with the other being more of a traditional, defensive-minded midfielder whose strengths are to break up opposition attacks.—
Mark Carey,
New York Times,
23 Oct. 2025
-
Scatological attacks are usually the province of outsiders trying to cut the powerful down to size.—
Michelle Goldberg,
Mercury News,
23 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Every athlete faces the fear of failure and strives to uphold a standard.—
Charles Baggarly,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
24 Oct. 2025
-
Unity strives for timely payment processing, typically aiming to complete clean claims within about a month, with accountability built into its agreements.—
Jason Phillips,
USA Today,
21 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
These nation-wide country-goes-city celebrations of agricultural bounty, mechanical innovations and skilled handcrafts have been drawing crowds since the first fair was held in upstate New York in 1841.—
Chadd Scott,
Forbes.com,
27 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
There’s a lot of fear in the air – fear of speaking out, fear of being swept up in ICE raids, etc.—
Andre Mouchard,
Oc Register,
26 Oct. 2025
-
There have been splashy workplace raids like the ones that occurred at a Georgia Hyundai plant and a California legal marijuana farm.—
Lauren Villagran,
USA Today,
26 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
There were stabs at horny lounge jazz, a melodramatic Latin guitar ballad, even a folksy blues number.—
Vann R. Newkirk II,
The Atlantic,
18 Oct. 2025
-
But before that transition takes place, here are a few final stabs at what’s to come for the Timberwolves in the 2025-26 season.—
Jace Frederick,
Twin Cities,
17 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Ising’s case is among a series of incidents The Star has reported on in recent months in which fire department employees charged with serious crimes — including assaults, a felony drug case and multiple DWIs — were allowed to remain on the job, some for years.—
Judy L. Thomas,
Kansas City Star,
24 Oct. 2025
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Vril and Agartha have thrived in part because of the way the editors mix brainrot and bigotry, disguising their ideological assaults in the fried fog of GifTok rap gibberish.—
Kieran Press-Reynolds,
Pitchfork,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
There can be 30 minutes of small waves before a sneaker wave strikes.—
Amanda Greenwood,
MSNBC Newsweek,
22 Oct. 2025
-
The primary causes of death and injury for these right whales are entanglement in fishing gear and vessel strikes, per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.—
Lex Goldstein,
PEOPLE,
22 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Attempts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/attempts. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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