best shot
72
3.2
- noun
- Informal
:
mejor intento
- After practicing for weeks, she finally felt ready to give it her best shot in the audition.
- give it your best shot
Sometimes it's your best shot, but it's not nearly good enough.
- Sometimes it's your best shot, but it's not nearly good enough.
- So we're going to give it our best shot.
- Some people really give it their best shot.
- Is it someone who when I put my weapon down, they take their best shot because they realise we've not got our guard up it?
- I've got about an hour which I don't know is doable, but I'm going to give it my best shot.
- And if it was a true split, the best shot at rebellion failed.
- Well, this is my best shot at it, this new book sentence, and we'll have to see how it how it how it fares in the next year or so.
- We've given our best shot, you know, and, and we've we've done a really good job.
Examples
-
You just get out there and give it your best shot.
-
Of course, that didn't stop him from giving it his best shot.
Fiction book (1991) -
How do you give yourself the best shot at that result?
-
Hey, you gave it your best shot.
-
I gave it my best shot.
-
I think it's our best shot.
-
Give it your best shot.
-
Give it your best shot, and hope that does the trick.
Fiction book (1991) -
What's important is that we give it our best shot to provide an opportunity to everyone.
Blog text (18) -
Guys, we gave it our best shot and that wasn't enough.
Synonyms
∞
2.1
An attempt to do something you may not succeed in
22
2.4
A strong attempt someone makes to succeed at something
5
4.4
The most effort you can make
1
1.0
The greatest effort a person can make
How Hard
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase 'best shot' is directly compositional: 'best' (greatest) + 'shot' (an attempt) yields 'the greatest attempt', a meaning B1 learners can derive if they know both words. The collocation follows a common adjective + noun pattern and has close cross-linguistic equivalents (e.g. 'best try'), making the meaning predictable rather than idiomatic.
Etymology
The noun best shot comes from old shooting contests. Imagine taking your single best shot, the strongest, most careful aim to hit the target, and that's why it means 'your greatest effort'.