attempt

Late 14th century, as Middle English attempten, from Old French atempter, from Latin attemptō (“I try, solicit”), from ad (“to”) + temptare, more correctly tentare (“to try”); see tempt. The noun is from the 1530s, the sense "an assault on somebody's life, assassination attempt" (French attentat) is from 1580.

• IPA^(key): /əˈtɛmpt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛmpt

attempt (third-person singular simple present attempts, present participle attempting, simple past and past participle attempted)

1. To try.

   to attempt an escape from prison

   I attempted to sing, but my throat was too hoarse.

   A group of 80 budding mountaineers attempted Kilimanjaro, but 30 of them didn’t make it to the top.

   • 1842, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Village Blacksmith:

     Something attempted, something done, / Has earned a night's repose.

   • 2013 July-August, Sarah Glaz, “Ode to Prime Numbers”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:

     Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.

2. (obsolete) To try to move, by entreaty, by afflictions, or by temptations; to tempt.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Yet since I see you fearful, that neither my coat, integrity, nor persuasion can with ease attempt you, I will go further than I meant, to pluck all fears out of you.

   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Vivien”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., , →OCLC, page 102:

     It made the laughter of an afternoon / That Vivien should attempt the blameless king.

3. (archaic) To try to win, subdue, or overcome.

   one who attempts the virtue of a woman

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Dear sir, of force I must attempt you further: / Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute.

4. (archaic) To attack; to make an effort or attack upon; to try to take by force.

   to attempt the enemy’s camp

   • 1830, John Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic:

     without attempting his adversary’s life

5. (criminal law) To make a substantial but unsuccessful effort (to commit a crime).
   • 2021, “German Criminal Code”, in gesetze-im-internet.de‎:

     Whoever takes a direct and immediate step towards the realisation of the offence as envisaged by them attempts to commit an offence.

• This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

• take a stab at, take a run at, assay, essay, seek

attempt (plural attempts)

1. The action of trying at something.

   We made an attempt to cross the stream, but didn’t manage.

   This poem is much better than the feeble attempt of mine.

   It was worth the attempt.

   No matter how many failed attempts we made, we maintained a positive attitude and tried again and again until we succeeded.

   • 2012 March, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, page 87:

     But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea

2. An assault or attack, especially an assassination attempt.
   • 1584, Allen’s Defence Of English Catholics, cited after Edinburgh Review 1883, page 378:

     No man can charge us of any attempt against the realm.

3. (criminal law) A substantial but unsuccessful effort (to commit a crime).
   • 2021, “German Criminal Code”, in gesetze-im-internet.de‎:

     Whoever voluntarily abandons the further commission of the offence or prevents its completion incurs no penalty for attempt.

• effort, try, bid

• “attempt”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E Smith, editors (1911), “attempt”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “attempt”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.