Try

/tɹaɪ/ · verb

Meaning

To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive..

Definitions by Sense

1. To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.
2. (obsolete) To divide; to separate.
3. To test, to work out.
4. To experiment, to strive.
5. (nautical) To lie to in heavy weather under just sufficient sail to head into the wind.
6. To strain; to subject to excessive tests.
7. (slang, chiefly African-American Vernacular, used with another verb) To want, to desire.
8. An attempt.

Example Sentences

I tried to rollerblade, but I couldn’t.

Can you start the car? —I'll try (to).

Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.

Skywalker: Alright... I'll give it a try. Yoda: NO! Try not! Do, or do not. There is no "try".

[Isaac Newton] was obsessed with alchemy. He spent hours copying alchemical recipes and trying to replicate them in his laboratory. He believed that the Bible contained numerological codes.

The light tries his eyes.

Repeated failures try one's patience.

I am really not trying to hear you talk about my mama like that.

Synonyms for try

Antonyms for try

Related Words

Word Forms

• tries
• trying
• tried
• no-table-tags
• glossary
• try
• triest
• triedst
• trieth
• -
• trie
• more try
• most try

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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