effort

effort, exertion, pains, trouble mean the active use or expenditure of physical or mental power in producing or attempting to produce a desired result.

Effort may suggest either a single action or continued activity, but it usually implies consciousness that one is making an attempt or sometimes, even, is laboring or straining to achieve an end

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make a final supreme effort

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the constant effort of the dreamer to attain his ideal— Henry Adams

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utterly absorbed in the writing of a private letter—how you lose count of time and have no sense of disagreeable effort— Montague

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Exertion in general stresses the active, often vigorous, exercise of a power or faculty

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the continued exertion of vigilance

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wearied by overexertion

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a . . . man, capable of close application of mind, and great exertion of body— Dickens

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Often, however, especially when not followed by of, exertion means a laborious effort

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his work was done with remarkable grace, but with exertions which it was painful to witness; for he had but one leg, and had to use a crutch— Deland

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Pains implies toilsome or solicitous effort; trouble implies exertion that inconveniences or wastes time and patience

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was at pains to emphasize the nonpolitical character of the visit— Morgenthau

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the Indians had exhaustless patience; upon their blankets and belts and ceremonial robes they lavished their skill and pains— Cather

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is twenty hundred kisses such a trouble?—Shak.

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"I feel that I am beginning to get a grip of the people . . . ." "I should hope so, after the amount of time and trouble you've taken"— Mackenzie

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Analogous words: *work, labor, toil, travail: energy, force, *power, might, puissance: endeavor, essay (see under ATTEMPT vb)

Antonyms: ease