English
try
Pronunciation
  • enPR: trī, IPA: /tɹaɪ/, [t͡ʃɹaɪ̯], [tɹ̝̊aɪ̯], [t̠͡ɹ̠̊˔aɪ̯], [t̠͡ɹ̠̊˔ʷaɪ̯]
Etymology 1

From Middle English trien, from Anglo-Norman trier, Old French trier, of uncertain origin.

Replaced native Middle English cunnen (from Old English cunnian), Middle English fandien (from Old English fandian), and Middle English costnien (from Old English costnian).

Verb

try (tries, present participle trying; simple past and past participle tried)

  1. To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.
    I tried to rollerblade, but I couldn’t.
    I'll come to dinner soon. I'm trying to beat this level first.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗, page 361 ↗:
      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.
    • 1980, Leigh Brackett et al., The Empire Strikes Back:
      Skywalker: Alright... I'll give it a try.
      Yoda: NO! Try not! Do, or do not. There is no "try".
  2. (obsolete) To divide; to separate.
    1. To separate (precious metal etc.) from the ore by melting; to purify, refine.
      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗, page 281 ↗:
        […] euery feend his buſie paines applyde, / To melt the golden metall, ready to be tryde.
    2. (one sort from another) To winnow; to sift; to pick out; frequently followed by out.
      to try out the wild corn from the good
      • 1531, Thomas Elyot, edited by Ernest Rhys, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman's Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC ↗:
        the wylde corne, beinge in shap and greatnesse lyke to the good, if they be mengled, with great difficultie will be tried out
    3. (nautical) To extract oil from blubber or fat; to melt down blubber to obtain oil
    4. To extract wax from a honeycomb
  3. To test, to work out.
    1. To make an experiment. Usually followed by a present participle.
      I tried mixing more white paint to get a lighter shade.
    2. To put to test.
      I shall try my skills on this.
      • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗, page 58 ↗:
        The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.
      • 1922, E. F. Benson, Miss Mapp, p. 89:
        “So mousie shall only find tins on the floor now,” thought Miss Mapp. “Mousie shall try his teeth on tins.”
    3. (specifically) To test someone's patience.
      You are trying my patience.
      Don't try me.
    4. (figuratively, chiefly, used in the imperative) To receive an imminent attack; to take.
      • 1999, Mona the Vampire, "The X-Change Student" (season 1, episode 6a):
        Mona: Try this vampire bolt on for size!
        Cedric: Why don't you try this alien bolt?
    5. To taste, sample, etc.
      Oh, you need to try the soup of the day!
    6. 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
      • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene ii], page 80 ↗, column 2:
        Let the end try the man.
    7. (with indirect interrogative clause) To attempt to determine (by experiment or effort).
      I'll try whether I can make it across town on foot.
    8. (legal) To put on trial.
      He was tried and executed.
      • 1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC ↗:
        The murderer, he recalled, had been tried and sentenced to imprisonment for life, but was pardoned by a merciful governor after serving a year of his sentence.
      • 1987, Hadi Khorsandi, “It Didn’t Quite Work Out—2”, in Ehssan Javan, transl., The Ayatollah and I:
        I sit in front of the mirror and try myself. I am no impartial judge, otherwise I would have had myself executed several times over by now.
  4. To experiment, to strive.
    1. To have or gain knowledge of by experience.
      • 1697, Virgil, “The First Pastoral. Or, Tityrus and Melibœus.”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗, page 4 ↗, line 88:
        […] try the Lybian Heat, or Scythian Cold.
      • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:
        Never more
        Mean I to trie what rash untri'd I sought,
        The paine of absence from thy sight.
    2. 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.
    3. (obsolete) To do; to fare.
      How do you try! (i.e., how do you do?)
    4. To settle; to decide; to determine; specifically, to decide by an appeal to arms.
      to try rival claims by a duel;  to try conclusions
      • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene iii], page 128 ↗, column 2:
        […] Left I the Court, to ſee this Quarrell try’de.
    5. (euphemism, of a couple) To attempt to conceive a child.
  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.
    The light tries his eyes.
    Repeated failures try one's patience.
  7. (slang, chiefly AAVE, used with another verb) To want, to desire.
    I am really not trying to hear you talk about my mama like that.
Conjugation
Conjugation of try

infinitive (to) try
present tense past tense
1st-person singular try tried
2nd-person singular

 try, triest†

3rd-person singular

 tries, trieth†

plural

 try

subjunctive

 try

tried
imperative

 try

—
participles

 trying

 tried

†Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms Related terms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Noun

try (plural tries)

  1. An attempt.
    I gave unicycling a try but I couldn’t do it.
    • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
      There was the day also when his favourite right uppercut had connected in most accurate and rhythmical fashion with the protruded chin of Bull Wardell of Whitechapel, whereby Silas put himself in the way of a Lonsdale Belt and a try for the championship.
  2. An act of tasting or sampling.
    I gave sushi a try but I didn’t like it.
  3. (rugby) A score in rugby league and rugby union, analogous to a touchdown in American football.
    Today I scored my first try.
  4. (UK, dialect, obsolete) A screen, or sieve, for grain.
    • 1603, Plutarch, translated by Philemon Holland, The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC ↗:
      They will not passe thorough the holes of the sieve, ruddle or trie, if they be narrow.
  5. (American football) A field goal or extra point
  6. (chess) A move that almost solves a chess problem, except that Black has a unique defense.
  7. (programming) A block of code that may trigger exceptions the programmer expects to catch, usually demarcated by the keyword try.
    Coordinate terms: except, catch
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Etymology 2

Probably from .

Adjective

try

  1. (obsolete) Fine, excellent.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC ↗, page 203 ↗:
      But he her ſuppliant hands, thoſe hands of gold, / And eke her feete, thoſe feete of ſiluer trye, […] Chopt off […].


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