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Try

A try is the principal means of scoring in rugby union and rugby league, achieved by a player grounding the ball in the opponent's in-goal area, which entitles the scoring team to a subsequent for additional points. The term derives from the original s, where crossing the goal-line merely granted the opportunity to "try" for a via a , without inherent points value until changes in the late formalized the try as a scored event. In , a try is valued at five points, with the conversion adding two more if successful, while awards four points for a try plus two for , reflecting divergent rule evolutions since the sport's in 1895. Notable aspects include the penalty try, awarded at seven points in union (or four in league) when foul play prevents a probable score, emphasizing causal in officiating. Video referee , introduced to resolve contentious grounding amid physical contests, has reduced disputes but sparked debates over its intrusion into flow and human . Iconic tries, such as those in finals or viral solo efforts, underscore the try's role in defining athletic prowess and tactical innovation, from structured phases to opportunistic breaks, though empirical analysis of scoring patterns reveals conversions often determine match outcomes more decisively than raw try counts.

Language and general meaning

Verb usage

The verb try denotes the act of making an effort to accomplish an or to subject something to or . Its etymology traces to trien, borrowed from Anglo-French trier in the 14th century, which meant to choose, sort, or ascertain, stemming ultimately from trier signifying to sift, pick out, or cull as in separating desirable elements from refuse. This foundational sense of selection through trial evolved by the late period (circa 1315) to encompass deliberate attempts toward achievement, reflecting the process of distinguishing viable outcomes from failure. In contemporary usage, the core transitive and intransitive forms express attempting a task or action, as in "to try to climb the mountain" or "he tried but failed," emphasizing initiation of effort without guaranteed success. Dictionaries distinguish it from synonyms like endeavor or strive by highlighting try's focus on the provisional or experimental nature of the exertion, often implying incomplete realization. For instance, testing material durability—such as trying a fabric's to wear—involves applying to evaluate under controlled conditions. Extended senses retain the testing : to sample for edibility or appeal, as in trying a before committing to a full portion, which probes sensory or practical suitability. In specialized contexts like , try historically refers to ores by and separating impurities, preserving the original sifting implication in processes documented since the medieval period. These applications underscore try's consistent thread of empirical assessment across everyday and technical domains.

Noun usage

As a noun, "try" denotes an act of attempting or making an effort toward a end, often countable as a discrete instance or occurrence separate from the ongoing action implied by the verb form. This usage emerged in the early 17th century from roots tied to Old French trier meaning "to sift" or "separate," reflecting an original connotation of testing or selection that evolved into the modern of a bounded or endeavor. For instance, phrases like "give it a try" describe informal, low-stakes experiments where the noun emphasizes the of a rather than sustained , as in evaluating a new or through a single . In quantifiable contexts, such as , puzzles, or iterative processes, "try" refers to repeated instances of effort, each representing an empirical probe for or , akin to hypothesis testing where outcomes inform subsequent adjustments. A person might reference "three tries" to complete a task, highlighting the accumulation of from attempts, which aligns with observable patterns in human problem-solving where persistence correlates with refined strategies based on prior results. This usage underscores causal sequences: each try yields —success, partial achievement, or error—that causally influences the next, without presupposing the verb's implication of active striving. Idiomatic expressions further illustrate the noun's role in denoting outcomes of effort, often evaluating partial or insufficient . "Good try" or "nice try" acknowledges an that falls short but demonstrates intent or proximity to the goal, grounded in social recognition of behavioral investment despite suboptimal results. Similarly, "college try" idiomatically signifies a maximal but ultimately futile effort, originating in to describe earnest, all-out endeavors in competitive scenarios, as in "giving it the old college try." These phrases capture realistic limitations, where the noun "try" isolates the event for assessment, revealing that effort alone does not guarantee causation of but provides measurable proxies for evaluation.

Legal and judicial contexts

In legal contexts, the verb "to try" denotes the formal judicial examination and determination of a dispute, encompassing the adversarial presentation of , , and legal arguments before a or to resolve issues of fact and law. This process, integral to systems, requires adherence to procedural rules ensuring , such as rules of and the , culminating in a or judgment. The term originates from the Anglo-French "trier," meaning to sift or cull, which entered English legal usage following the of 1066 and evolved within the developing framework of royal courts in medieval . By the 12th century, under reforms like Henry II's assizes of 1166 and 1176, itinerant justices systematically tried civil and criminal cases, shifting from ordeal-based resolutions to evidentiary hearings that prioritized rational inquiry over supernatural proof. Distinct from colloquial uses implying mere experimentation, legal trials impose a structured burden of proof—preponderance of the in civil matters or proof beyond a in criminal proceedings—to mitigate and substantiate outcomes like acquittals, convictions, or dismissals. This adversarial mechanism, preserved in jurisdictions deriving from English , contrasts with inquisitorial systems by assigning parties the duty to prosecute or defend claims, fostering contestation as a means to approximate truth through verifiable facts rather than unilateral . Archaically, the noun "try" referred to a trial or formal hearing itself, as in phrases denoting a case proceeding to judicial scrutiny, though modern usage favors "trial" for the noun form.

Sports

Rugby

A try constitutes the primary method of scoring in both rugby union and rugby league, achieved when an attacking player grounds the ball in the opponent's in-goal area while holding possession. In rugby union, a try awards five points, whereas in rugby league it awards four points. The concept emerged in 19th-century amid the development of codes from earlier folk games, where grounding the ball behind the goal line—known as a "try at goal"—permitted an attempt at a kick for points, as tries themselves initially scored none. The formalized rules in 1871, recognizing the try as the precursor to goal attempts, with independent scoring value assigned later; by , international matches equated a try to one point against a conversion's two. Execution requires the ball carrier to cross the goal line without prior grounding and apply downward pressure using the hand, arm, or body (from waist to neck) to touch the ground in the in-goal; simultaneous grounding by defenders does not negate a valid try if the attacker is first. Video (or television match official) protocols, implemented in from 1997 and trials by 2001, enable review of grounding, possession, and offside elements to confirm awards, reducing on-field errors in professional play.

Other sports

In , the term "try" denotes the post- attempt to score one or two additional points via a kick from the 15-yard line or a play from scrimmage, as codified in official (NFL) rules. This procedure, also known as the point after (PAT), retains the "try" designation in rulebooks despite colloquial shifts toward "extra point" for the one-point kick and "" for the riskier scrimmage option introduced league-wide in 1994. The usage traces to the sport's origins in the late , when crossing the goal line—initially worth zero points—merely earned the right to an uncontested attempt, explicitly called a "try." By 1898, rule changes under awarded four points for a (later adjusted to six in 1904), decoupling the crossing from the mere "try" privilege while preserving the term for the ensuing . Though rare in modern commentary, "try" appears in contexts like defensive safeties during the attempt, which nullify the play without awarding points to the offense. In , governed by the Canadian Football League (CFL), the equivalent post-touchdown play is termed a "convert," attempted from the three-yard line for one point () or two points (scrimmage), reflecting divergence from American terminology since the sport's formalization in the early 20th century. No other major team sports employ "try" as a formalized scoring mechanism, though archaic or variant usages occasionally surface in historical accounts of gridiron derivatives; for instance, early college football variants in the 1880s mirrored rugby's try-for-goal structure before standardization. The term's persistence underscores American football's evolutionary debt to rugby while highlighting terminological simplification in professional play.

Music

Albums

Try! is a live album by the , consisting of on guitar and vocals, Pino Palladino on bass, and Steve Jordan on drums. Released on November 22, 2005, by , it was recorded during performances at the in , , on September 19 and 20, 2005. The album captures the trio's blues-rock style, emphasizing improvisational elements in a concert setting. Try is a studio by American contemporary Christian singer-songwriter Bebo Norman, released on September 14, 2004, by Essential Records. It features Norman's acoustic-driven songwriting focused on themes of and personal struggle. In 2025, the electronic music collective TRY released a self-titled debut comprising 16 tracks spanning genres such as trap, house, and , developed organically over several years.

Songs

"Try" is a song by American singer Pink, released as the second single from her sixth studio album The Truth About Love on October 5, 2012. It peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on February 16, 2013, and has sold over 2.9 million copies in the United States. "Try" is a track by Canadian singer Nelly Furtado from her second studio album Folklore, released on November 5, 2003. The song was issued as a single on February 23, 2004, but did not achieve significant commercial success on major charts. "Try" is a song by American singer-songwriter , serving as the from her fifth studio album Gypsy Heart, released on June 9, 2014. The track emphasizes and , though it did not reach top positions on charts. "" by American singer , from her debut album On How Life Is released on July 3, 1999, peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the in 2001.

Television

Programs and episodes

"The Walking Dead" features an episode titled "Try" as the eighth installment of its fifth season, which premiered on on March 1, 2015. "The Killing" includes an episode named "Try" as the tenth episode of its third season, broadcast on on July 21, 2013. No major television series have been titled exactly "Try" in broadcast records, though short-form or developmental projects with that name exist without confirmed airings.

Other uses

Currency

The TRY is the ISO 4217 code for the (Türk lirası), the official currency of Turkey and its primary , subdivided into 100 . The lira traces its origins to 1844, when it replaced the as the Empire's main currency unit at parity, with the modern Republican version established after 1923 and subject to multiple redenominations to combat , including a 2005 reform that removed six zeros from denominations. The currency symbol ₺, a stylized evoking upward , was selected via public competition and officially adopted by the of the Republic of Turkey on March 1, 2012, with support added in version 6.2 later that year. As legal tender, the lira is used exclusively for all transactions in Turkey and serves as the de facto official currency in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, where it has circulated since the 1974 division of the island, though euros are sometimes accepted informally. Following the 2001 financial crisis, which saw the lira depreciate to approximately 1,650,000 per US dollar, Turkey transitioned from a crawling peg to a floating exchange rate regime managed by the Central Bank, allowing market-driven valuation influenced by supply-demand dynamics and policy interventions. By October 2025, the USD/TRY rate stood at around 41.92, reflecting a year-to-date weakening of about 18% amid persistent pressures. The has endured elevated since the early 2010s, exacerbated by unorthodox monetary policies prioritizing growth over ; annual consumer price peaked above 85% in 2022 before moderating to 33.29% year-over-year in September 2025, driven by components like food (36.1%) and rents (69.1%), with official projections targeting 28.5% by year-end. efforts since mid-2023 to hike rates have curbed the rate's acceleration, though independent analyses highlight ongoing risks from fiscal deficits and external vulnerabilities.

Legislation

The federal Right to Try Act, enacted on May 30, 2018, permits patients with life-threatening diseases or conditions—who have exhausted approved treatment options, are ineligible for clinical trials, and have obtained physician certification—to access investigational drugs or biologics that have completed Phase I clinical trials but remain unapproved by the . This pathway bypasses certain FDA requirements, provided the drug manufacturer consents and has not denied an FDA application, while offering liability protections to manufacturers, physicians, and sponsors against claims arising from use, except in cases of willful misconduct. The law does not mandate manufacturer participation or require post-use data reporting to the FDA beyond basic notifications. Preceding the federal statute, 41 states had adopted right-to-try laws between 2014 and 2018, enabling similar access to experimental therapies for terminally ill patients under state frameworks that limited FDA oversight. These state measures, often modeled after initiatives from organizations like the Goldwater Institute, typically applied to drugs in advanced development stages and emphasized patient autonomy over regulatory hurdles, though utilization remained low due to manufacturer discretion and limited awareness. As of 2025, expansions under "Right to Try 2.0" have gained traction, focusing on individualized treatments like cell and gene therapies outside FDA purview; for instance, enacted such a on August 21, 2025, becoming the 16th state to do so. Federally, the Right to Try Clarification Act (H.R. 1825, introduced March 2023) seeks to extend applicability to Schedule I substances post-Phase I trials, clarifying exemptions from controlled substance restrictions. These developments aim to broaden access without mandating clinical trial enrollment, amid ongoing debates over safety data collection and efficacy evidence.

Technology and computing

In programming languages, "try" denotes the initiation of a code block designed for , enabling graceful recovery from runtime errors rather than abrupt termination. This construct, part of structured , traces its conceptual roots to early languages like , which introduced exception mechanisms in 1964 to manage abnormal conditions such as input/output failures. Modern implementations, such as try-catch blocks, gained prominence in object-oriented paradigms; incorporated them from its initial development phase, with the language's first public release in January 1996 featuring try for enclosing risky operations, catch for type-specific handlers, and optional finally for cleanup regardless of outcome. , using try-except syntax, integrated exception handling early in its evolution, with core support evident by version 1.0 in 1994, allowing developers to wrap potentially failing code like file operations or divisions to prevent crashes and log issues. Empirical data from software reliability studies indicate that proper use of these blocks reduces application failure rates by isolating errors, though overuse can obscure root causes, as evidenced in analyses of large-scale codebases where exception swallowing led to 15-20% of production bugs. Beyond error management, "try" appears in virtual try-on technologies, which leverage (AR) and (VR) for e-commerce product simulation, allowing users to overlay items like apparel or onto real-time video feeds or avatars. These systems emerged in the mid-2010s alongside mobile AR advancements, such as Apple's ARKit in 2017, enabling precise body mapping via algorithms for realistic fitting previews. Adoption accelerated post-2020 with surges, integrating into platforms like and to address fit uncertainties that contribute to 30% of online returns in fashion. The global virtual try-on market reached $12.5 billion in 2024, projected to expand at a (CAGR) of 25.5% to $48.8 billion by 2030, driven by AI enhancements in and camera ubiquity. In beauty sectors, AR try-on tools have demonstrated conversion rate lifts of 11-22% in user trials, per retailer implementations, by minimizing purchase regret through empirical over static images.

People

Given name

The given name Try is rare and primarily occurs in Scandinavian variants such as Trygve or Tryggve, derived from tryggr meaning "trustworthy" or "true." It holds cultural significance in Nordic languages but sees minimal usage in English-speaking contexts. Trygve Halvdan Lie (16 July 1896 – 30 December 1968) was a lawyer and politician who served as foreign minister from 1940 to 1945 and as the first from 1 February 1946 to 10 April 1952, resigning amid tensions. Jens Tryggve Herman Gran (20 January 1888 – 8 January 1980) was a aviator, skier, and explorer who joined Roald Amundsen's successful expedition in 1910–1912 as the skiing expert and later achieved the first heavier-than-air flight across the on 30 July 1914 from to Helgoland.

Surname

The surname Try is of English origin, deriving from the term trie or triʒe, signifying "trustworthy" or "faithful," which traces back to trie. It may also stem from Norman influences, including habitational names or medieval descriptors post-1066 . Historical records indicate early bearers in regions like , , where families received land grants, though primary associations remain English. In terms of distribution, the surname is uncommon globally, with concentrations in (approximately 30% of bearers), (22%), and Atlantic-Niger (15%). In the United States, it ranks 55,386th in frequency, with census data showing 56.9% of bearers identifying as and 36.9% as Asian or as of recent analyses. Genealogical databases like document over 327,000 records associated with the name, including birth, death, and entries dating back to the 16th century, but primarily from the 19th and 20th centuries in the UK, USA, , and . These records reveal occupations such as laborers, farmers, and tradespeople in 19th-century censuses, reflecting modest socioeconomic profiles without prominent concentrations in elite professions. No widely recognized historical figures, professionals, or contributors in fields like , sciences, , or bear the surname Try in verifiable . The name's rarity—evidenced by limited entries in major genealogical indices—suggests bearers were typically unnoted in broader historical narratives, with empirical data prioritizing everyday demographics over exceptional achievements. Variants like "Tri" or anglicized forms may appear in some lineages, potentially linking to Southeast Asian adoptions, but distinct "Try" instances remain sparse and undocumented for notable impact.