effort

English

Etymology

From Middle French effort, from Old French esfort, deverbal noun from esforcier (“to force, exert”), from Vulgar Latin *exfortiare, from Latin ex + fortis (“strong”)

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈɛfət/, SAMPA: /"Ef@t/
• (GenAm) IPA: /ˈɛfɚt/, SAMPA: /"Ef@`t/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

effort (plural efforts)

1. The amount of work involved in performing an activity; exertion.

   It took a lot of effort to find a decent-sized, fully-furnished apartment withing walking distance of the office.

2. This word needs a definition. Please help out and add a definition, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

   He made a conscious effort to not appear affected by the stories in the paper.

   • 2011 June 22, Press Association, “Manchester United offer Park Ji-sung a new two-year contract”, The Guardian:

     The 30-year-old South Korean, who joined United in 2005, retired from international duty after last season's Asian Cup in an effort to prolong his club

3. An endeavour.

   Although he didn't win any medals, Johnson's effort at the Olympics won over many fans.

Usage notes

• Adjectives often used with "effort": conscious, good, poor, etc.

Synonyms

• struggle

Derived terms

• best efforts
• centre of effort
• effort distance
• effortless
• make an effort

Translations

the amount of work involved in achieving something

Arabic: جهد (ar) (jahd) m. Armenian: ճիգ (hy) (č̣ig), ջանք (hy) (ǰank’) Bulgarian: усилие (bg) n., старание (bg) n. Catalan: esforç (ca) m. Chinese: Mandarin: 努力 (zh) (nǔlì), 費力 (zh), 费力 (zh) (fèilì) Croatian: nápor (hr) m., trȗd (hr) m. Czech: úsilí (cs) n. Dutch: inspanning (nl) Esperanto: klopodo (eo) Finnish: ponnistus (fi), vaiva (fi), yritys (fi) French: effort (fr) German: Anstrengung (de) f., Aufwand (de) m. Greek: προσπάθεια (el) f. Hebrew: מאמץ (he) (ma`amáts) m.

Hungarian: erőfeszítés (hu) Interlingua: effortio (ia) Italian: sforzo (it) m. Japanese: 努力 (ja) (どりょく, doryoku) Korean: 노력 (ko) (noryeok) (努力 (ko)) Kurdish: ڕه‌نج Polish: wysiłek (pl) m. Portuguese: esforço (pt) m. Romanian: efort (ro) n., solicitare (ro) f. Russian: усилие (ru) (usílije) n. Scottish Gaelic: iomairt (gd) f. Spanish: esfuerzo (es) m. Swahili: juhudi (sw) Swedish: ansträngning (sv) c., insats (sv) c. Vietnamese: nỗ lực (vi) (努力 (vi))

endeavour — see endeavour

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Spanish: ahínco m.

Verb

effort (third-person singular simple present efforts, present participle efforting, simple past and past participle efforted)

1. (rare) To make an effort.
2. (obsolete) To stimulate.

   He efforted his spirits. — Fuller.

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: speech · fast · middle · #880: effort · race · ladies · rise

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French

Etymology

From Middle French, from Old French esfort, from esforcier. Compare Spanish esfuerzo, Catalan esforç, Portuguese esforço, Italian sforzo.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• IPA: /e.fɔʁ/
• Rhymes: -ɔʁ

Noun

effort m. (plural efforts)

1. effort

Related terms

• efforcer

Anagrams

• offert

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Old French

Noun

effort m. (oblique plural efforz, nominative singular efforz, nominative plural effort)

1. Alternative form of esfort.