Link Centre Dictionary

effort

ef·fort

UK/ˈɛf.ət/ US/ˈɛf.ɚt/ common

noun

1.

earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something

  • “made an effort to cover all the reading material”
  • “wished him luck in his endeavor”
  • “she gave it a good try”
Synonyms
2.

use of physical or mental energy; hard work

  • “he got an A for effort”
  • “they managed only with great exertion”
Synonyms
3.

a series of actions advancing a principle or tending toward a particular end

  • “he supported populist campaigns”
  • “they worked in the cause of world peace”
  • “the team was ready for a drive toward the pennant”
  • “the movement to end slavery”
  • “contributed to the war effort”
Synonyms
4.

a notable achievement

  • “he performed a great deed”
  • “the book was her finest effort”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle French effort, from Old French esfort, deverbal of esforcier (“to force, exert”), from Vulgar Latin *exfortiō, from Latin ex + fortis (“strong”). Compare typologically Bulgarian усилие (usilie), Czech úsilí, Polish wysiłek, Russian уси́лие (usílije) (< Proto-Slavic *sila).

Phrases

  • A for effort
  • best efforts
  • center of effort
  • centre of effort
  • effort distance
  • joint efforts
  • low-effort syndrome
  • make an effort

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.