From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgood/bad/poor etc effortgood/bad/poor etc effortTRY TO DO OR GET somethingsomething that has been done well, badly etc Not a bad effort for a beginner! → effort
Examples from the Corpus
good/bad/poor etc effort• Peter Pike and Davern Lambert had good efforts before Musgrove completed his hat-trick with a good shot on the turn.• Batter Up Despite my best efforts, I could not stop eating the skinny fries that came with the combination.• However, objects decay despite our best efforts to conserve them.• In spite of the rain's best efforts, I was pleased that I had been able to observe and film interesting mink behaviour.• In spite of Holford-Walker's best efforts, the moran evaded his supervision.• Football is a team game; offense and defense must work together to produce the best effort.• Dealing with these individual and family concerns will require the best efforts of mental health professionals.• Or maybe they disapproved of or were indifferent to your best efforts. 