Word.ws English Dictionary

college try

college try is the alternative form of old college try.

Meaning of old college try

Noun

old college try (plural old college tries)

  1. (informal) A vigorous, committed attempt or effort, often in the context of a nearly hopeless situation where failure is expected.
    • Those who have seen Ruth make the "old college try" understand that some professionals play with a spiritual fervor which is supposed to be the amateur's prerogative.1929, Munsey's Magazine, volume 96, number 3, page 355

Forms of college try

pluralcollege tries

Questions about college try

What is college try the alternative form of?
College try is the alternative form of old college try.

Words near college try in the dictionary

  1. College Point
  2. College Station
  3. college town
  4. college towns
  5. college tries
  6. college try
  7. college wage premium
  8. college wage premiums
  9. college-age
  10. college-aged
  11. college-goer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: college try (page history and authors); old college try (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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