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TAKE PAINS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected forms: taken pains , takes pains , taking pains , took pains
I. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Try very hard to do something
Synonyms:
be at pains; take pains
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "take pains" is one way to...):
endeavor; endeavour; strive (attempt by employing effort)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE
Context examples:
He was the brother of her friends, and he took pains to please her; and altogether, having seen nobody better (that must have been his great assistant) she might not, while she was at Abbey-Mill, find him disagreeable.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
The evening rewarded her confidence; she was met by one with the same kindness, and by the other with the same attention, as heretofore: Miss Tilney took pains to be near her, and Henry asked her to dance.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Fortunately I had had the advantage of being taught French by a French lady; and as I had always made a point of conversing with Madame Pierrot as often as I could, and had besides, during the last seven years, learnt a portion of French by heart daily—applying myself to take pains with my accent, and imitating as closely as possible the pronunciation of my teacher, I had acquired a certain degree of readiness and correctness in the language, and was not likely to be much at a loss with Mademoiselle Adela.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
How proper Mr. Tilney might be as a dreamer or a lover had not yet perhaps entered Mr. Allen's head, but that he was not objectionable as a common acquaintance for his young charge he was on inquiry satisfied; for he had early in the evening taken pains to know who her partner was, and had been assured of Mr. Tilney's being a clergyman, and of a very respectable family in Gloucestershire.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
