Library / English Dictionary

ENDEAVOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something

Example:

she gave it a good try

Synonyms:

attempt; effort; endeavor; endeavour; try

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("endeavor" is a kind of...):

activity (any specific behavior)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "endeavor"):

test; trial (the act of undergoing testing)

run; test; trial (the act of testing something)

takeover attempt (an attempt to take control of a corporation)

battle; struggle (an energetic attempt to achieve something)

nisus; pains; strain; striving (an effortful attempt to attain a goal)

shot (an attempt to score in a game)

shot; stab (informal words for any attempt or effort)

seeking (an attempt to acquire or gain something)

power play; squeeze; squeeze play (an aggressive attempt to compel acquiescence by the concentration or manipulation of power)

mug's game (a futile or unprofitable endeavor)

liberation (the attempt to achieve equal rights or status)

contribution; part; share (the effort contributed by a person in bringing about a result)

foray (an initial attempt (especially outside your usual areas of competence))

essay (a tentative attempt)

crack; fling; go; offer; pass; whirl (a usually brief attempt)

bid; play (an attempt to get something)

worst (the weakest effort or poorest achievement one is capable of)

best (the supreme effort one can make)

batting ((baseball) the batter's attempt to get on base)

Derivation:

endeavor (attempt by employing effort)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A purposeful or industrious undertaking (especially one that requires effort or boldness)

Example:

he had doubts about the whole enterprise

Synonyms:

endeavor; endeavour; enterprise

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("endeavor" is a kind of...):

labor; project; task; undertaking (any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "endeavor"):

fraudulent scheme; illegitimate enterprise; racket (an illegal enterprise (such as extortion or fraud or drug peddling or prostitution) carried on for profit)

forlorn hope (a hopeless or desperate enterprise)

business activity; commercial activity (activity undertaken as part of a commercial enterprise)

Derivation:

endeavor (attempt by employing effort)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Attempt by employing effort

Example:

we endeavor to make our customers happy

Synonyms:

endeavor; endeavour; strive

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "endeavor" is one way to...):

assay; attempt; essay; seek; try (make an effort or attempt)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "endeavor"):

struggle (to exert strenuous effort against opposition)

be at pains; take pains (try very hard to do something)

buck (to strive with determination)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Derivation:

endeavor (earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something)

endeavor (a purposeful or industrious undertaking (especially one that requires effort or boldness))

Credits

 Context examples: 

She improved visibly from day to day, until Martin wondered if he was doing right, for he knew that all her compliance and endeavor was for his sake.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

You appear to be nearing the point where your desired compensation will become the focus and finalized, but because the endeavor is important, talks will take time to complete.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I have been more pained, said she, by her endeavors to acquit him than by all the rest; for it irritates her mind more than the most perfect conviction of his unworthiness can do.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Having described, in general terms, their course from the main river up to the time that they actually reached the base of the cliffs, he enthralled his hearers by his account of the difficulties encountered by the expedition in their repeated attempts to mount them, and finally described how they succeeded in their desperate endeavors, which cost the lives of their two devoted half-breed servants. (This amazing reading of the affair was the result of Summerlee's endeavors to avoid raising any questionable matter at the meeting.)

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was not the fear that he should die passively from lack of food, but that he should be destroyed violently before starvation had exhausted the last particle of the endeavor in him that made toward surviving.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

He found her in the kitchen one morning groaning with pain, tears of weakness running down her cheeks, vainly endeavoring to put through a large ironing.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Full moons finish endeavors, but lunar eclipses have the strength of three full moons and often create a landmark moment.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

She took the first opportunity of affronting her mother-in-law on the occasion, talking to her so expressively of her brother's great expectations, of Mrs. Ferrars's resolution that both her sons should marry well, and of the danger attending any young woman who attempted to DRAW HIM IN; that Mrs. Dashwood could neither pretend to be unconscious, nor endeavor to be calm.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I have heard to-night similar, but even more offensive, sentiments from the person who has just sat down, and though it is a conscious effort of self-effacement to come down to that person's mental level, I will endeavor to do so, in order to allay any reasonable doubt which could possibly exist in the minds of anyone.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His work was realism, though he had endeavored to fuse with it the fancies and beauties of imagination.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)