1. Extremely irritating to the nerves
   "a trying day at the office";
   - nerve-racking, nerve-wracking, stressful
    
2. Hard to endure
   "fell upon trying times"

1. Make an effort to accomplish something
   "He tried to shake off his fears";
   - seek, attempt, essay, assay [archaic]
    
2. Attempt to determine the quality, value, or truth of something by testing or experiment
   "This approach has been tried with good results"; "try out this recipe";
   - test, prove, try out, examine, essay, trial
    
3. Test the limits of
   "You are trying my patience!";
   - strain, stress
    
4. Put on a garment in order to see whether it fits and looks nice
   "Try on this sweater to see how it looks";
   - try on
    
5. Hear a case and sit as the judge at a trial or hearing
   "The football star was tried for the murder of his wife";
   - judge, adjudicate
    
6. Examine or hear (evidence or a case) by judicial process
   "The case will be tried in California";
   - hear
    
7. Take a sample of
   "Try these new crackers"; "try out the regional dishes";
   - sample, try out, taste
    
8. Give pain or trouble to
   "I've been sorely tried by these students"
    
9. (cooking) melt (fat or lard) in order to separate out impurities
   "try the yak butter";
   - render

See also: difficult, disagreeable, hard

Type of: act, afflict, anguish, assume, consume, decide, determine, don, evaluate, examine, get into, have, hurt, ingest, judge, make up one's mind, melt, melt down, move, pain, pass judgment, probe, put on, run, take, take in, wear

Encyclopedia: Trying