essay
noun
a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative.
was essaying
-
past progressiveof essay.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
A high, childish soprano voice was essaying to carry the sustained note an octave above the man's voice; once it sharped.
From Amarilly of Clothes-line Alley by Belle Kanaris Maniates
Tudor, who was essaying, and not altogether unsuccessfully, to bear the public gaze undismayed, did as he was bid, and followed Mr. Gitemthruet.
From The Three Clerks by Anthony Trollope
But from this moment I had eyes only for his face, which was ashen white and the more horrible because he was essaying a painful smile.
From The Adventures of Harry Revel by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Alone and unaided, she was essaying to carve her own fortune from the huge quarries where thousands were diligently laboring.
From Beulah by Augusta J. (Augusta Jane) Evans
She was essaying, indeed, an impossible task—trying to couch Hugh Kinross’s eccentricities in dignified English prose.
From In the Mist of the Mountains by J. Macfarlane
