Word.ws English Dictionary

giving something a shot

giving something a shot is the present participle and gerund of give something a shot.

Meaning of give something a shot

Verb

give something a shot (third-person singular simple present gives something a shot, present participle giving something a shot, simple past gave something a shot, past participle given something a shot)

  1. To try or attempt (something); to give something a try.
    • I don’t think it will work, but I suppose you could give restarting the computer a shot.
    Synonyms:
    give something a go, have a go at something, give something a lash, have a lash at something, give something a try, have a try at something, give something the old college try, give something a whirl, take a crack at something, have a crack at something

Questions about giving something a shot

What is giving something a shot the present participle and gerund of?
Giving something a shot is the present participle and gerund of give something a shot.

Words near giving something a shot in the dictionary

  1. giving someone what for
  2. giving someone what-for
  3. giving someone wood
  4. giving something a go
  5. giving something a miss
  6. giving something a shot
  7. giving something a try
  8. giving something a whirl
  9. giving something up as a bad job
  10. giving suck
  11. giving the ax

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: giving something a shot (page history and authors); give something a 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.

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