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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of attempts
Barry Jackson,
Miami Herald,
4 July 2026
Firefighters made several attempts to reach them but were unable to rescue them, per the Akron Beacon Journal.
—
Paloma Chavez,
PEOPLE,
3 July 2026
Mission managers called off two launch attempts Tuesday and Wednesday due to poor weather around the L-1011’s staging base on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
—
Stephen Clark,
ArsTechnica,
3 July 2026
While there are have been successful attempts in storing this energy in large water bodies, much of the energy storage relies on chemical batteries.
—
Ameya Paleja,
Interesting Engineering,
3 July 2026
Converting on all four attempts for Egypt were Mahmoud Saber, Rami Rabia, Mohamed Salah and Hossam Abdelmaguid.
—
Jim Barnes,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
3 July 2026
In India, the country is obsessed with cricket and Bollywood movies, which share a symbiotic relationship that has proven to be a major obstacle in attempts to build soccer’s popularity.
—
Simon Chadwick,
Forbes.com,
2 July 2026
As Kennedy and Bessette spend more time together and grow closer, her intimidation of the spotlight and fear of invasive paparazzi often create tension in their relationship, despite his attempts to calm the situation.
—
Gerrad Hall,
Entertainment Weekly,
22 June 2026
The company has made various attempts at agentic products before.
—
Beatrice Nolan,
Fortune,
22 June 2026
Rupendra Brahambhatt,
Interesting Engineering,
4 July 2026
Watch On It's set in Japan and follows Malcolm Lee (voiced by André Holland), who attempts to stop the rise of Skynet by creating his own AI named Kokoro.
—
Sergio Pereira,
Space.com,
3 July 2026
Cage’s score is an abstract work based on the Japanese form of collective poetry known as renga, in which each poet attempts to write a line that is as distant as possible in meaning from the preceding line.
—
Mark Swed,
Los Angeles Times,
2 July 2026
His character ultimately falls in love with Maggie Sullivan (Morgan Kohan) but Season 4 brought major troubles for the pair after Maggie's ex-husband (Marcus Rosner) shows up and attempts to work his way back into her life.
—
Joelle Goldstein,
USA Today,
2 July 2026
The 10 Happiest Careers In America A new analysis from employee experience platform Blink attempts to answer which are the happiest careers.
—
Bryan Robinson,
Forbes.com,
2 July 2026
With the wedding canceled, Enola attempts to juggle her investigations with easing Tewkesbury’s believably bruised heart, but alas, things just don’t slow down.
—
Kate Erbland,
IndieWire,
30 June 2026
In 1995's Braveheart, Byrne portrayed Smythe, a vicious solider who attempts to rape Murron (Catherine McCormack), the wife of William Wallace (Mel Gibson).
—
Wesley Stenzel,
Entertainment Weekly,
30 June 2026
The success of the LineShine comes as the US and China ratchet up their tech rivalry and Washington attempts to curb Beijing’s access to frontier technologies from AI to chips that could power its military.
—
John Liu,
CNN Money,
24 June 2026
Noun
If the shot is converted, the free throw is worth three points on three-point attempts or two points on two-point attempts.
—
Barry Jackson,
Miami Herald,
4 July 2026
Firefighters made several attempts to reach them but were unable to rescue them, per the Akron Beacon Journal.
—
Paloma Chavez,
PEOPLE,
3 July 2026
Mission managers called off two launch attempts Tuesday and Wednesday due to poor weather around the L-1011’s staging base on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
—
Stephen Clark,
ArsTechnica,
3 July 2026
While there are have been successful attempts in storing this energy in large water bodies, much of the energy storage relies on chemical batteries.
—
Ameya Paleja,
Interesting Engineering,
3 July 2026
Converting on all four attempts for Egypt were Mahmoud Saber, Rami Rabia, Mohamed Salah and Hossam Abdelmaguid.
—
Jim Barnes,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
3 July 2026
In India, the country is obsessed with cricket and Bollywood movies, which share a symbiotic relationship that has proven to be a major obstacle in attempts to build soccer’s popularity.
—
Simon Chadwick,
Forbes.com,
2 July 2026
As Kennedy and Bessette spend more time together and grow closer, her intimidation of the spotlight and fear of invasive paparazzi often create tension in their relationship, despite his attempts to calm the situation.
—
Gerrad Hall,
Entertainment Weekly,
22 June 2026
The company has made various attempts at agentic products before.
—
Beatrice Nolan,
Fortune,
22 June 2026
Verb
Rather than simply reducing power use across the board, the system attempts to identify exactly when machinery is wasting energy and proposes operational changes that can reduce consumption without disrupting productivity.
—
Rupendra Brahambhatt,
Interesting Engineering,
4 July 2026
Watch On It's set in Japan and follows Malcolm Lee (voiced by André Holland), who attempts to stop the rise of Skynet by creating his own AI named Kokoro.
—
Sergio Pereira,
Space.com,
3 July 2026
Cage’s score is an abstract work based on the Japanese form of collective poetry known as renga, in which each poet attempts to write a line that is as distant as possible in meaning from the preceding line.
—
Mark Swed,
Los Angeles Times,
2 July 2026
His character ultimately falls in love with Maggie Sullivan (Morgan Kohan) but Season 4 brought major troubles for the pair after Maggie's ex-husband (Marcus Rosner) shows up and attempts to work his way back into her life.
—
Joelle Goldstein,
USA Today,
2 July 2026
The 10 Happiest Careers In America A new analysis from employee experience platform Blink attempts to answer which are the happiest careers.
—
Bryan Robinson,
Forbes.com,
2 July 2026
With the wedding canceled, Enola attempts to juggle her investigations with easing Tewkesbury’s believably bruised heart, but alas, things just don’t slow down.
—
Kate Erbland,
IndieWire,
30 June 2026
In 1995's Braveheart, Byrne portrayed Smythe, a vicious solider who attempts to rape Murron (Catherine McCormack), the wife of William Wallace (Mel Gibson).
—
Wesley Stenzel,
Entertainment Weekly,
30 June 2026
The success of the LineShine comes as the US and China ratchet up their tech rivalry and Washington attempts to curb Beijing’s access to frontier technologies from AI to chips that could power its military.
—
John Liu,
CNN Money,
24 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for attempts
Noun
-
From 10-10 at halftime, Wales scored two tries in two minutes through prop Rhys Carre and Adams, who chased a speculative kick into the Fiji in-goal.
-
Japan has not won a World Cup knockout-round game in four tries.
Noun
-
The British Army also provided protection from attacks by Native American tribes, giving many settlers little reason to support a rebellion.
-
Twice in recent days, the United States has launched retaliatory strikes on Iran following drone attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Verb
-
Perusing the menu online provides insight into how truly diverse Sushi Sushi strives to be.
-
While leadership strives to accelerate AI investment, many workers, particularly in frontline and junior positions, still don’t understand how the technology will impact their daily responsibilities or long-term career paths.
Noun
-
Does this mean those pop-goes-punk comp albums are coming back?
-
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.
Noun
-
Ukrainian officials describe the strikes as a campaign to pressure Moscow to end the war by undermining its military logistics and supply lines and weakening its ability to mount assaults along the front.
-
Ukrainian officials describe the strikes as a campaign to pressure Moscow to end the war by undermining military logistics and supply lines and weakening its ability to mount front-line assaults.
Noun
-
As are chunks of the opening song; a line here, and a line there; an entirely new closing number has replaced the first stabs at a closing number; and every awkward silence is excised.
-
Of course, editing for stabs at human embryo enhancement is far more controversial and ethically fraught.
Noun
-
After Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Los Angeles, several people filed a lawsuit in July 2025 alleging authorities questioned them without justification.
-
The raids were part of Operation Broken Blade, a federal crackdown on activity along the Figueroa corridor.
Noun
-
Since the army broke the siege on el-Obeid last year, the RSF has launched multiple offensives in attempts to reestablish the siege from several directions.
-
By targeting logistics hubs and resource stockpiles, Ukraine is attacking the systems that sustain Russian offensives.
Cite this Entry
“Attempts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/attempts. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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