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Meaning & use

tried

verb, adjective·Everyday

Last updated

UK/traɪd/
US/traɪd/

“tried” is a form of “try”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.

Meanings

  1. verbtransitive or intransitive

    Past tense and past participle of try: made an attempt to do something, or used or sampled something to see how it works.

    Grammar: Often followed by to plus a verb or an -ing form: tried to leave; tried opening the window.

    Patterns

    • tried to do something
    • tried doing something
    • tried something

    She tried to call you twice this morning.

    We tried the new cafe on Main Street last night.

    I tried turning the router off and on again.

  2. verbtransitivelegal

    Past tense and past participle of try in the legal sense: examined in a court and judged.

    Grammar: Usually passive: he was tried for fraud.

    Patterns

    • be tried for something
    • be tried by a jury

    The two men were tried for robbery last spring.

    The case was tried before a jury of twelve.

    She was tried in absentia and found guilty.

  3. adjectivebefore a noun

    Shown by long use or testing to work well and be dependable.

    Grammar: Appears mainly in the fixed pair tried and tested or tried and true.

    Patterns

    • tried and tested
    • tried and true

    Grandma's tried and tested remedy for hiccups never fails.

    He stuck with a tried and true recipe for the party.

    Use a tried method rather than an experiment.

Common combinations

tried and tested
It is a tried and tested way to learn vocabulary.
tried and true
We chose the tried and true route through the hills.
tried everything
I've tried everything to get this stain out.
tried in court
The suspect will be tried in court next month.
tried hard
He tried hard not to laugh.

Synonyms and how they differ

attempted
Attempted is more formal and suggests a serious effort, whereas tried is the everyday choice.
tested
Tested means checked to see how well something performs, while tried can also mean simply sampled.
proven
Proven, as an adjective, stresses solid evidence of success, but tried and tested stresses long use.
sampled
Sampled means tasted or used a little of something, a narrower sense than tried.

Opposites

untried

Word family

try verb
to attempt, or to test
trial noun
a test, or a court hearing
trying adjective
difficult and tiring to deal with
untried adjective
not yet tested or used

Commonly confused: tried or tired?

tried vs tired

Tired means in need of rest. Tried is the past form of try, and the two words differ only by the order of r and i.

Practice

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