Word.ws English Dictionary

giving something a try

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

Meaning of give something a try

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To try or attempt something.
    • I always wanted to give windsurfing a try. I reckon it could be fun.

Questions about giving something a try

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

Words near giving something a try in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: giving something a try (page history and authors); give something a 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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Cite this entry: “giving something a try.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/giving_something_a_try. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.