effort
Americannoun
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efforts
plural
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exertion of physical or mental power.
It will take great effort to achieve victory.
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an earnest or strenuous attempt.
an effort to keep to the schedule.
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something done by exertion or hard work.
I thought it would be easy, but it was an effort.
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an achievement, as in literature or art.
The painting is one of his finest efforts.
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the amount of exertion expended for a specified purpose.
the war effort.
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Chiefly British.
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an organized community drive or achievement.
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a fund-raising drive.
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Mechanics. the force or energy that is applied to a machine for the accomplishment of useful work.
noun
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physical or mental exertion, usually considerable when unqualified
the rock was moved with effort
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a determined attempt
our effort to save him failed
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achievement; creation
a great literary effort
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physics an applied force acting against inertia
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Force applied against inertia.
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The force needed by a machine in order to accomplish work on a load.
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Compare load
Synonym Usage
Effort, application, endeavor, exertion imply actions directed or force expended toward a definite end. Effort is an expenditure of energy to accomplish some objective: He made an effort to control himself. Application is continuous effort plus careful attention: constant application to duties. Endeavor means a continued and sustained series of efforts to achieve some, often worthy and difficult, end: a constant endeavor to be useful. Exertion is the vigorous and often strenuous expenditure of energy, frequently without an end: out of breath from exertion.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of effort
First recorded in 1480–90; from Middle French, from Old French esfort, esforz, derivative of esforcier “to force” ( es- ex- 1 + forcier force )
Explanation
Effort has to do with how much work you're putting into something. A great achievement can also be considered a great effort. Effort has to do with how hard you're trying. If something is easy, it doesn't take much effort. If it's hard, it takes a lot of effort. Effort is about trying to get something done, even if it doesn't always work out. In sports, coaches don't like losing, but they really hate it when the players aren't giving much effort. There are also large scale, collective efforts, like the effort to cure cancer.
Vocabulary lists containing effort
Can I Work It? Words for "Job"
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Stay Strong: Forc and Fort
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"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 20–25
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
After experimenting with different angles and compositions, he captured a moment that reveals the extraordinary effort involved in this seemingly simple task.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
Analysts see the new hardware as an effort to deepen customers’ ties to the Apple ecosystem as AI rivals, including OpenAI, eye devices of their own.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
An effort to pay his legal bills resulted in a bribery investigation when he accepted $100,000 from a former client under investigation by his office.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
To play always with the same effort, the same commitment and the same passion, that is a thing that we need to keep.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
The monkeys made no effort to bite either Rowdy or me.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
In Indonesia, there have been efforts by civil society to force the government to take action.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
"Emergency services attended and sadly, despite the best efforts of medical personnel, the man was pronounced dead at the scene," it added.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
Other Franklin parents have focused on counseling efforts and have not supported a police presence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
For 20 minutes, we pressed on his chest and pushed medicines, but despite our best efforts, we could not revive him.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
But there are many reintroduction efforts that don’t do hard releases yet do employ some type of acclimation process,where the species is slowly transitioned back into the wild—using a staged, or “soft,” release.
From "Camp Panda" by Catherine Thimmesh
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
