darnedest effort
- noun
- Informal
:
máximo esfuerzo
- She gave her darnedest effort during the competition.
Examples
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I appreciate your darnedest effort to help me!
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Even when tired, the team always gives their darnedest effort in every match.
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Despite the difficulties, he put forth his darnedest effort to finish the project on time.
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She gave her darnedest effort during the competition.
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Despite the difficulties, he put forth his darnedest effort to finish the project on time.
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Even when tired, the team always gives their darnedest effort in every match.
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She gave her darnedest effort during the competition.
Synonyms
22
2.4
A strong attempt someone makes to succeed at something
7
9.1
A very strong effort that someone makes to do something
4
8.6
A great effort to try as hard as possible
1
2.7
The act of putting all your energy and attention into doing something
Antonyms
How Much Effort
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally built from the superlative/intensive adjective 'darnedest' (meaning extremely/greatest) plus 'effort', so a learner who knows both words can infer 'the greatest or most determined effort.' This follows a common adj+noun intensification pattern and is therefore transparent to a B1 learner who understands the constituents, despite being somewhat colloquial.
Etymology
The phrase darnedest effort comes from darnedest, a softer form of the older word 'damnedest', which long ago meant very extreme or the most possible. So, saying someone gave their darnedest effort makes the image of them trying as hard as they can, which is why it means 'the greatest effort'.