attempt
/əˈtɛmpt/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.85 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To try.
verb
To make a substantial but unsuccessful effort (to commit a crime).
noun
An assault or attack, especially an assassination attempt.
noun
A substantial but unsuccessful effort (to commit a crime).
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "Although it's hard to get right, please attempt to do so."
- "Something attempted, something done, / Has earned a night's repose."
- "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."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Latin temptō Latin attemptōder. Old French atempterbor. Middle English attempten English attempt Late 14th century, as Middle English attempten, from Old French atempter, from Latin attemptō (“to try, solicit”), from ad- (“to”) + temptō; see tempt. The noun is from the 1530s, the sense "an assault on somebody's life, assassination attempt" (French attentat) is from 1580. By surface analysis, at- + tempt.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
attempts (present, singular)
attempting (participle, present)
attempted (participle, past)
attempted (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
attempted (first person, past)
attemptest (archaic, present)
attempted (past, second person)
attemptedst (archaic, past)
attempteth (archaic, present)
attempted (past, singular)