Meaning & use

last-ditch effort

phrase·Academic

A final attempt to achieve something, made after other efforts have failed or when little hope remains.

See it in a sentence

In a last-ditch effort to save the deal, she offered a significant discount.

The team made a last-ditch effort in the final seconds, but still lost the game.

A note on using this word

Last-ditch comes from the image of soldiers defending the final trench after all other lines have fallen.

Words with a similar meaning

desperate attemptfinal push

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

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