effort — OET · Shobdo

effort

noun

1 they made an effort to reach a settlement:

attempt, try, endeavour;

informal crack, go, shot, stab, bash, whack;

formal essay;

archaic assay.

2 Guy's score of 68 was a fine effort:

achievement, accomplishment, performance, attainment, result, feat, deed, exploit, undertaking, enterprise;

work, handiwork, creation, production, opus;

triumph, success, positive result, coup, master stroke, stroke of genius.

3 it requires little effort to operate the handle:

exertion, force, power, energy, work, muscle, application, labour, the sweat of one's brow, striving, endeavour, toil, struggle, slog, strain, stress, trouble, bother;

informal sweat, elbow grease;

British, informal graft;

Australian, New Zealand, informal (hard) yakka;

archaic travail, moil.

□ make an effort

more than four in ten adults have made an effort to cut their carb intake:

try, attempt, endeavour, strive, seek, exert oneself, do one's best, labour, work, toil, struggle, apply oneself;

undertake, aim, set out, take it on oneself;

informal have a go/shot/crack/stab/bash;

Australian, New Zealand, informal give it a burl, give it a fly;

formal essay;

archaic assay.

□ make every effort

the directors of almost all the parks are making every effort to draw in visitors with new attractions:

try hard, strive, aim, aspire, venture, undertake, seek, make an effort, spare no effort, exert oneself, do one's best, do all one can, do one's utmost, attempt, give one's all, labour, work, toil, strain, struggle, apply oneself;

informal bend/fall/lean over backwards, go all out, give it one's best shot, pull out all the stops, bust a gut, do one's damnedest, go for broke, knock oneself out, break one's neck, move heaven and earth.

□ spare no effort

try hard, strive, aim, aspire, venture, undertake, seek, make an effort, make every effort, exert oneself, do one's best, do all one can, do one's utmost, attempt, give one's all, labour, work, toil, strain, struggle, apply oneself;

□ with effort

'It's bad, sir', he said, controlling his voice with effort:

with difficulty, with/after a struggle, painfully, arduously, laboriously, hard.

▷antonyms easily.

effort Oxford Dictionary of English