Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use try in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun, adjective

Try means to attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive. Example: “I tried to rollerblade, but I couldn’t.”

Examples of try by meaning

verbTo attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.

  • I tried to rollerblade, but I couldn’t.
  • Can you start the car? —I'll try (to).
  • Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page...

verbTo winnow; to sift; to pick out; frequently followed by out.

  • to try out the wild corn from the good

verbTo make an experiment. Usually followed by a present participle.

  • I tried mixing more white paint to get a lighter shade.

verbTo put to test.

  • I shall try my skills on this.
  • “Mousie shall try his teeth on tins.”1922, E. F. Benson, Miss Mapp, p. 89
  • In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3

verbTo test someone's patience.

  • You are trying my patience.
  • Don't try me.

verbTo fight or to make an attempt at an attack.

  • You wouldn't dare and try me!
  • You fixin' to try something, fool?

verbTo taste, sample, etc.

  • Oh, you need to try the soup of the day!

verbTo prove by experiment; to apply a test to, for the purpose of determining the quality; to examine; to prove; to test.

  • to try weights or measures by a standard; to try a person's opinions

More sentences with try

  • This app has a bug: when you try to sort a large spreadsheet, it closes.From the entry close
  • We must try to save our marriage for the sake of our children.From the entry our
  • In his sermon, the minister didn’t try to whitewash over the sins of his church.From the entry whitewash
  • He's a bad gardener; everything he tries to grow ends up dying.From the entry bad
  • Jill has four diamonds; she’ll try to draw for a flush.From the entry draw
  • Please bear with me as I try to find the book you need.From the entry bear
  • For a while I used to grind demons and try to get the count higher.From the entry grind
  • If you get the chance, try and catch the new production of "Hamlet."From the entry chance
  • This app has a bug: when you try to sort a large spreadsheet, it shuts.From the entry shut
  • Try to put a positive spin on the disappointing sales figures.From the entry spin
  • I always cook my frags, in case they try to grab one and throw it back.From the entry cook
  • Tony hammered on the door to try to get him to open.From the entry hammer
  • Let's try to put this question to rest once and for all.From the entry put to rest
  • Let's try to hold off the lawyers until we are ready for them.From the entry hold off
  • Try to look past his foibles and see the friendly fellow underneath.From the entry foible
  • That album is quite hard to find, but I guess you could try ordering it online.From the entry guess
  • Just try your best lah, and don’t think too much about it.From the entry lah
  • If you try to fight that boss underprepared, you're definitely gonna wipe.From the entry wipe
  • Don't try to make a deep copy of that: you'll pull in half the database.From the entry deep copy
  • I put down some traps in my apartment to try and deal with the mouse problem.From the entry trap
  • I'm going to be walking quickly, but try to keep up with me.From the entry up
  • I gave up trying to get that stodgy club to try anything new.From the entry stodgy
  • Okay, everyone sit on your bum and try and touch your toes.From the entry bum
  • Detective novel writers try to keep up the suspense until the last chapter.From the entry chapter
  • Try using a phone book to prop up the table where the foot is missing.From the entry prop
  • Maybe you can, maybe you can't: you won't know till you try.From the entry till

Meaning of try

  1. verb To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.
  2. verb To separate (precious metal etc.) from the ore by melting; to purify, refine.
  3. verb To winnow; to sift; to pick out; frequently followed by out.

Full definition of try

Questions about try in a sentence

How do you use try in a sentence?
Try is used as a verb, noun and adjective. For example: “I tried to rollerblade, but I couldn’t.”
What is a short sentence with try?
“Don't try me.”
What does try mean?
Try means to attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: try (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use try in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/try. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.