Word.ws English Dictionary

giving it one's best shot

giving it one's best shot is the present participle and gerund of give it one's best shot.

Meaning of give it one's best shot

Verb

give it one's best shot (third-person singular simple present gives it one's best shot, present participle giving it one's best shot, simple past gave it one's best shot, past participle given it one's best shot)

  1. (idiomatic) To make one's best effort or attempt; to try as hard as possible.
    • Near-synonyms: give it the old college try; give one's all, go all out, pull out all the stops, do one's utmost, leave it all on the field, empty the tank

Questions about giving it one's best shot

What is giving it one's best shot the present participle and gerund of?
Giving it one's best shot is the present participle and gerund of give it one's best shot.

Words near giving it one's best shot in the dictionary

  1. giving head
  2. giving heed
  3. giving in
  4. giving it large
  5. giving it mouth
  6. giving it one's best shot
  7. giving it socks
  8. giving it some welly
  9. giving it the gun
  10. giving it to someone
  11. giving it up

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: giving it one's best shot (page history and authors); give it one's best shot (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “giving it one's best shot.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/giving_it_one%27s_best_shot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.