ENDEAVOUR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does endeavour mean? 

• ENDEAVOUR (noun)
  The noun ENDEAVOUR has 2 senses:

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

2. earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something

  Familiarity information: ENDEAVOUR used as a noun is rare.

• ENDEAVOUR (verb)
  The verb ENDEAVOUR has 1 sense:

1. attempt by employing effort

  Familiarity information: ENDEAVOUR used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ENDEAVOUR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

endeavor; endeavour; enterprise

Context example:

he had doubts about the whole enterprise

Hypernyms ("endeavour" 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 "endeavour"):

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:

endeavour (attempt by employing effort)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

attempt; effort; endeavor; endeavour; try

Context example:

she gave it a good try

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

activity (any specific behavior)

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

best (the supreme effort one can make)

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)

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

Derivation:

endeavour (attempt by employing effort)

• ENDEAVOUR (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they endeavour    ... he / she / it endeavours   
Past simple: endeavoured   
Past participle: endeavoured   
-ing form: endeavouring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Attempt by employing effort

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

endeavor; endeavour; strive

Context example:

we endeavor to make our customers happy

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

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

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

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:

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

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

 Context examples 

It had formerly been my endeavour to study all sides of his character: to take the bad with the good; and from the just weighing of both, to form an equitable judgment.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

In the warmth of the moment, and under a mistaken impression, I might, perhaps, have endeavoured to interest you in some circumstances; but not now.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

But if a woman is partial to a man, and does not endeavour to conceal it, he must find it out.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

You must endeavour, sir, to change it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

She said nothing; and Eleanor, endeavouring to collect herself and speak with firmness, but with eyes still cast down, soon went on.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

It must make him think; and I have no doubt that he oftener endeavours to restrain himself than he would if he had been anything but a clergyman.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Then, he said, he would endeavour to see her in the course of this day.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

In recent years, numerous studies have therefore endeavoured to study their composition and bioactivity in relation to different pathologies.

(Scientists identify bioactive compounds in cacao pods to develop drugs to combat skeletal disorders, University of Granada)

Sometimes I have endeavoured to discover what quality it is which he possesses that elevates him so immeasurably above any other person I ever knew.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The captain, a wise man, after many endeavours to catch me tripping in some part of my story, at last began to have a better opinion of my veracity.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)