try.
To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.
Meaning & usage
To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.
I tried to rollerblade, but I couldn’t.
Can you start the car? —I'll try (to).
To divide; to separate. To separate (precious metal etc.) from the ore by melting; to purify, refine.
To divide; to separate. To winnow; to sift; to pick out; frequently followed by out.
to try out the wild corn from the good
To divide; to separate. To extract oil from blubber or fat; to melt down blubber to obtain oil
To divide; to separate. To extract wax from a honeycomb
To test, to work out. To make an experiment. Usually followed by a present participle.
I tried mixing more white paint to get a lighter shade.
To test, to work out. To put to test.
I shall try my skills on this.
To test, to work out. To test someone's patience.
You are trying my patience.
Don't try me.
To test, to work out. To fight or to make an attempt at an attack.
You wouldn't dare and try me!
You fixin' to try something, fool?
To test, to work out. To receive an imminent attack; to take.
To test, to work out. To taste, sample, etc.
Oh, you need to try the soup of the day!
To test, to work out. To prove by experiment; to apply a test to, for the purpose of determining the quality; to examine; to prove; to test.
to try weights or measures by a standard; to try a person's opinions
To test, to work out. To attempt to determine (by experiment or effort).
I'll try whether I can make it across town on foot.
To test, to work out. To put on trial.
He was tried and executed.
To experiment, to strive. To have or gain knowledge of by experience.
To experiment, to strive. To work on something with one's best effort and focus.
Dad, for God's sake, I'm trying my best!
You are trying too hard.
To experiment, to strive. To do; to fare.
How do you try! (i.e., how do you do?)
To experiment, to strive. To settle; to decide; to determine; specifically, to decide by an appeal to arms.
to try rival claims by a duel; to try conclusions
To experiment, to strive. To attempt to conceive a child.
To lie to in heavy weather under just sufficient sail to head into the wind.
To strain; to subject to excessive tests.
The light tries his eyes.
Repeated failures try one's patience.
To want, to desire.
I am really not trying to hear you talk about my mama like that.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English trien (“to separate out, sift, choose, select, evaluate, try a legal case”), from Anglo-Norman trier, triher, triere (“to divide, separate, choose, select, prove, determine, try a case”), Old French trier (“to choose, pick out or separate from others, sift, cull”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Occitan triar (“to choose, sort, scrutinise, peel”), Catalan triar (“to pick, choose, decide”). Suggested to be derived from Late Latin *trītāre (“to crush, grind, trample, wear out”), itself derived from Classical Latin trītus (“rubbed, worn down, pulverised”), the past participle of terō, terere (“to rub, wear down, trample”), though this derivation is incompatible with the Occitan form. Additionally, the shift in meaning from "rub, crush, trample" to "pick out, choose, cull" is difficult to explain. One suggestion is that the semantic shift might have originated from a Latin phrase *granum terere ("to tread the corn (in threshing)"; compare Latin trītūra (“rubbing, chafing, friction" also "threshing”)), which has a parallel in the modern French trier le grain (“to sort the grain”). Alternatively, perhaps derived from Vulgar Latin *trīāre, a metathetic alteration of *tīrāre (“to tear off, pull, draw”), whence also Old French tirer (“to draw, pull, pluck, tug, peck at, extract”), Occitan tirar (“to take, draw, retrieve, remove, extract”). Replaced native Middle English cunnen (“to try”) (from Old English cunnian), Middle English fandien (“to try, prove”) (from Old English fandian), and Middle English costnien (“to try, tempt, test”) (from Old English costnian).
An attempt.
I gave unicycling a try but I couldn’t do it.
An act of tasting or sampling.
I gave sushi a try but I didn’t like it.
A score in rugby league and rugby union, analogous to a touchdown in American football.
Today I scored my first try.
A screen, or sieve, for grain.
A field goal or extra point
A move that almost solves a chess problem, except that Black has a unique defense.
A block of code that may trigger exceptions the programmer expects to catch, usually demarcated by the keyword try.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English trien (“to separate out, sift, choose, select, evaluate, try a legal case”), from Anglo-Norman trier, triher, triere (“to divide, separate, choose, select, prove, determine, try a case”), Old French trier (“to choose, pick out or separate from others, sift, cull”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Occitan triar (“to choose, sort, scrutinise, peel”), Catalan triar (“to pick, choose, decide”). Suggested to be derived from Late Latin *trītāre (“to crush, grind, trample, wear out”), itself derived from Classical Latin trītus (“rubbed, worn down, pulverised”), the past participle of terō, terere (“to rub, wear down, trample”), though this derivation is incompatible with the Occitan form. Additionally, the shift in meaning from "rub, crush, trample" to "pick out, choose, cull" is difficult to explain. One suggestion is that the semantic shift might have originated from a Latin phrase *granum terere ("to tread the corn (in threshing)"; compare Latin trītūra (“rubbing, chafing, friction" also "threshing”)), which has a parallel in the modern French trier le grain (“to sort the grain”). Alternatively, perhaps derived from Vulgar Latin *trīāre, a metathetic alteration of *tīrāre (“to tear off, pull, draw”), whence also Old French tirer (“to draw, pull, pluck, tug, peck at, extract”), Occitan tirar (“to take, draw, retrieve, remove, extract”). Replaced native Middle English cunnen (“to try”) (from Old English cunnian), Middle English fandien (“to try, prove”) (from Old English fandian), and Middle English costnien (“to try, tempt, test”) (from Old English costnian).
Fine, excellent.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English trye, trie, probably from Old French trié, past participle of Old French trier (“to try”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.