Meaning & use
combined effort
Last updated
Meaning
phrasecountable
The act of working together with others to achieve a shared goal.
Grammar: Often used with 'a' or 'the': a combined effort, the combined effort. Can be plural: combined efforts.
Patterns
- a combined effort
- through combined effort
- by combined effort
- combined effort of
The project succeeded thanks to a combined effort from all departments.
It was a combined effort between the two schools.
Through combined effort, they cleaned the entire beach.
Word forms
| plural | combined efforts |
|---|
Common combinations
- a combined effort
- Winning the championship was a combined effort.
- through combined effort
- They achieved their goal through combined effort.
- combined effort of
- The combined effort of the volunteers made a difference.
Synonyms and how they differ
- joint effort
- Joint effort emphasizes two or more parties working together; combined effort emphasizes the merging of different contributions.
- teamwork
- Teamwork focuses on cooperative work by a group; combined effort can also refer to a single instance of working together.
Opposites
Word family
- combine verb
- To join or mix together.
- combination noun
- A mixture or joining of things.
Commonly confused: combined effort or combined efforts?
combined effort vs combined efforts
Combined efforts is the plural form, used when referring to multiple instances or groups of people working together.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'combined effort' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Combined effort means working together with others, so option 2 is correct. Option 1 has a subject-verb agreement error (effort is singular, so 'was' is needed). Option 3 contradicts the meaning because 'alone' implies no combined effort. Option 4 is wrong because a combined effort requires more than one person.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “combined effort”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.