To attempt something is to try to do it, especially something difficult or uncertain.
It comes from Old French *atempter*, from Latin *attemptare* or *attentare* 'to try, to test', from *ad-* 'to' and *temptare* 'to try, to feel'. It originally meant testing or trying something out.
An attempt is a kind of experiment, even if we don’t call it that. Seeing your efforts as tests rather than final judgments can make failure feel like information, not identity.
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