Online OXFORD Collocation Dictionary

effort noun

¹ physical/mental energy needed to do sth

ADJ. considerable | hard It took a whole day of hard effort to knock down the wall. | constant, sustained | extra | physical | intellectual, mental

QUANT. amount the amount of effort required

VERB + EFFORT demand, need, require, take It takes constant effort to become fluent in a language. | devote, expend, put in All the team members have put in a great deal of effort. | spare no No effort has been spared to make this hotel a welcoming, comfortable place. | be (well) worth The walk is difficult but well worth the effort.

EFFORT + VERB go into A lot of effort went into making the costumes.

PREP. with/without ~ This can be done quickly and with very little effort.

PHRASES a great deal of effort

² attempt to do sth

ADJ. all-out, big, brave, determined, enormous, great, herculean, heroic, huge, major, remarkable, special, strenuous, superhuman, tremendous, valiant I can see you have made a big effort to clean up. | desperate, frantic their frantic efforts to put out the fire | final, last, last-ditch The UN General Secretary flew in in a last-ditch effort to save the talks. | genuine, positive, real, serious | feeble She made a feeble effort to smile, then started crying again. | sporadic I make sporadic efforts to sort out my files. | successful | fruitless, futile, unsuccessful | collaborative, collective, concerted, cooperative, joint, team Students, teachers and families got together in a team effort to decorate the school. | conscious, deliberate I have to make a conscious effort to be polite so early in the morning. | voluntary The museum relies on the voluntary efforts of enthusiasts. | fund-raising

VERB + EFFORT make | increase, intensify, redouble, renew, step up The police have renewed their efforts to find the murderer. | channel, concentrate, focus The police channelled their efforts into searching around the river. | fail in He failed in h | resist The wound resisted all my efforts to stop it bleeding. | abandon | be rewarded for, reward Her efforts were rewarded when she won an Oscar. | applaud The gallery owner applauded the efforts of firefighters to save the exhibits.

EFFORT + VERB come to nothing, fail

PREP. in an/your ~ The club has changed the rules in an effort to make them fairer. | through sb's ~ Through their efforts, enough money was raised to buy the equipment.

PHRASES your best efforts Despite our best efforts, we didn't manage to win the match. | a reward for your efforts Second prize was a fair reward for his efforts. | make every effort We are making every effort to obtain the release of the hostages.