attempt: [14] Attempting is etymologically related to tempting. The Latin verb attemptāre was formed with the prefix ad- from temptāre, which meant ‘try’ as well as ‘tempt’ (the semantic connection is preserved in modern English try, with the contrasting senses ‘a(chǎn)ttempt’ and ‘put to the test’). The Latin form passed into Old French as atenter (hence modern French attenter), but was later latinized back to attempter, the form in which English acquired it. => tempt
attempt (v.)
late 14c., from Old French attempter (14c.), earlier atenter "to try, attempt, test," from Latin attemptare "to try" (cognates: Italian attentare, Old Proven?al, Portuguese attentar, Spanish atentar), from ad- "to, upon" (see ad-) + temptare "to try" (see tempt). Related: Attempted; attempting.
attempt (n.)
1530s, from attempt (v.). Meaning "effort to accomplish something by violence" is from 1580s, especially as an assault on someone's life.
雙語例句
1. An attempt by anti-abortionists to tighten the rules was defeated.
反墮胎者所作的加強法規(guī)的嘗試失敗了。
來自柯林斯例句
2. Army officers plotted a failed attempt yesterday to seize power.
軍官們昨天奪權(quán)未遂。
來自柯林斯例句
3. These feelings are likely to make people attempt to overthrow the system.
這些情緒有可能促使人們想要推翻現(xiàn)行的體制。
來自柯林斯例句
4. The action seemed a clumsy attempt to topple the Janata Dal government.
這一試圖推翻人民黨政府的行動似乎缺乏策略。
來自柯林斯例句
5. The first British attempt to colonize Ireland was in the twelfth century.