good effort
Worthy try there
Good effort acknowledges someone's attempt at something, even when the result falls short.
It's genuine when praising a child learning to ride a bike or a student tackling a difficult problem.
But among adults, it often carries condescension or faint praise—a polite way of noting failure: That was a good effort, but we're going with another candidate.
The phrase can also be sarcastic, dismissing a weak attempt entirely.
- valiantCourageously determined
- commendableWorthy of approval
- well doneThoroughly cooked, or congratulations
- admirableDeserving high regard
- tryMake an effort
attempt · hustle · determination · sweat · grit · perseverance · striving · tenacity · close · close call · almost · nearly · not bad · worthy · brave · applause · encouraging · keep it up
- Feedback Phraseswell done, nice work, great job, excellent, perfect
- encouragementsyou can do it, you got this, you've got this, keep going, keep it up
- adequacyadequate, enough, sufficient, satisfactory, acceptable
- sportsmanshipfairness, fair play, sportsmanship, respect, integrity
good effortno effort
Absence of trying
zero effort · laziness · phoning it in · sloppy work · botched job
good, effort, goods, goodness, goodly, efforts, effortless, effortlessly