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to try our best

to try our best

14 2.1
To make as much effort as you can to reach a goal
  • idiom
translation icon : hacer todo lo posible
  • So I feel like we try our best, we try our best, we make sure that we're as transparent as possible.
  • try our best to get
  • try our best to make
  • try our best to help

And we'll try our best to do what we can and, and that's OK.

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Examples

  • We will try our best to reach out to them, anyone who is out there.

  • I think we should all just try our best to do our part.

  • And that even, you know, in trying our best, we will never meet the ideal.

  • And then you trust us to try our best to be honest and fair and to work through things, knowing where we're coming from.

  • And I feel like if we're trying our best, we truly are, then being kind to ourselves is something that we have to do.

  • Our children need to see us working hard and trying our best.

    Blog text (18)
  • We try our best, we fight the good fight, and yet we cannot succeed against the greater forces.

  • We can only try our best and minimize the damage as we go.

    Blog text (5)
  • We're all just trying our best to muddle through and make people happy.

  • We will try our best to finish the project ahead of the deadline.

Synonyms

to strive
vsto try our best
156 3.7

To work very hard to reach a goal

means making the single greatest possible effort at a moment rather than steady effort
to go all out
vsto try our best
39 4.1

To try as hard as you can with a lot of energy

is a more neutral phrase without the emphasis on high energy
to go to great lengths
vsto try our best
26 4.1

Try very hard to make something happen

emphasizes single maximum effort rather than prolonged measures over time
to do what it takes
vsto try our best
18 4.8

Take any action needed to reach a goal, even when it is difficult

stresses maximal effort itself rather than listing or choosing needed actions
to move heaven and earth
vsto try our best
  • Informal
7 4.2

Do everything you can to achieve something important

is the general phrase for great effort without strong sense of importance
to do one's utmost
vsto try our best
5 3.2

To try as hard as possible

is expressed in everyday neutral language rather than formal or urgent tone
to give it one's all
vsto try our best
4 4.9

To try as hard as possible using all your energy

is a simple way to state the same total effort without idiom
to spare no effort
vsto try our best
2 3.9

Do everything possible to achieve something

is a simpler everyday way to say the same complete effort
to go to the ends of the earth
vsto try our best
1 5.9

To try very hard and do anything to achieve something

focuses on making greatest effort rather than on impossible or far-fetched acts
to do one's best
vsto try our best
1 2.5

To try as hard as you can to do something well

is the general instruction to make the greatest effort without emotional emphasis
to strain every nerve
vsto try our best
  • Informal
1 7.2

Try as hard as possible to do something

is the general phrase without bodily or physical effort imagery
to do one's damnedest
vsto try our best
  • NSFW
1 8.6

To try very hard to do something

is milder and lacks coarse or strongly emotional wording
to give one's all
vsto try our best
  • Informal
3.8

Put in as much effort and energy as possible

is the ordinary phrase for making the greatest possible effort
to put one's darnedest
vsto try our best
  • Informal
7.8

To try as hard as possible to do something

is more neutral and formal compared with this mild informal emphasis
to give one's best
vsto try our best
  • Informal
2.8

To try as hard as you can when doing something

focuses on maximum effort rather than mainly on performance quality

Antonyms

1.2

To stop trying to do something or accept defeat

to slack off
  • Informal
3 3.9

To become less strong or busy

How Hard

to try our best
14 2.1
to try
1.0

Surface Forms

try our best infinitive

Morphology

try + our + best

The meaning 'to make the greatest effort possible' is directly derivable from the constituents: 'try' (attempt) + 'our' (possessive for the speaker group) + 'best' (the greatest effort). This is a common, compositional English pattern (try one’s best) and has close parallels in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the parts will understand it.

Etymology

The phrase try our best may come from the image of people showing their very best in a task: they try to give their best. So it means 'to make the greatest effort possible'.