Attempts

An attempt is an act of trying to do something that may or may not succeed. In everyday use it describes a person’s effort to complete a task, undertake a goal, or produce a result before its completion. The term is used across different domains, including law, sports, science, and computing, to distinguish the initial phase of an action from its successful outcome.

In criminal law, an attempt refers to a person’s deliberate effort to commit a crime that goes beyond mere preparation and tends toward completion, even if the final act is not completed. Elements typically include intent to commit the crime and a substantial step toward its commission. Legal standards for what counts as a substantial step vary by jurisdiction, and some places recognize defenses such as voluntary abandonment or impossibility.

In sports and games, an attempt is an effort to achieve a scoring or placement outcome. Statistics often track attempts, such as shot attempts in basketball or goal attempts in football, which measure how actively a player or team sought to score, regardless of success.

In science and research, attempts describe repeated trials or experimental runs, often used to measure reliability or to test hypotheses. In computing and information technology, attempts or retry attempts refer to repeated operations after a failure or timeout, frequently governed by a maximum limit to prevent endless processing.

Because the term is broad, its precise meaning depends on context. It generally implies that action was initiated or planned, but completion or success is not guaranteed.