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 ‘attempt’ 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 Provençal, 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.
双语例句
1. An attempt by anti-abortionists to tighten the rules was defeated.
反堕胎者所作的加强法规的尝试失败了。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Army officers plotted a failed attempt yesterday to seize power.
军官们昨天夺权未遂。
来自柯林斯例句
3. These feelings are likely to make people attempt to overthrow the system.
这些情绪有可能促使人们想要推翻现行的体制。
来自柯林斯例句
4. The action seemed a clumsy attempt to topple the Janata Dal government.
这一试图推翻人民党政府的行动似乎缺乏策略。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The first British attempt to colonize Ireland was in the twelfth century.