last-ditch attempt

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last-ditch attempt

A final effort or attempt to solve a problem or avoid failure or defeat, especially after a series of failures or setbacks. The home team is mounting one last-ditch attempt in the final seconds of the game to try to force an overtime showdown. In a last-ditch attempt to avoid a government shutdown, congress has pushed forward a new spending bill.
See also: attempt
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

a ˌlast-ditch ˈstand/atˈtempt/ˈeffort

a final attempt to avoid defeat: They are making a last-ditch stand to save the company.This is a last-ditch attempt to stop the strike. Ditch in this idiom refers to a long channel built to defend an area against attack.
See also: attempt, effort, stand
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
See also:
References in periodicals archive ?
Summary: Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], July 8 (ANI): In what appears to be a last-ditch attempt to save the coalition government in the state, Congress leaders KC Venugopal, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Siddaramaiah, G Parameshwara, MB Patil, and Eshwara Khandre held a meeting at an undisclosed location with legal advisers on Monday.
Laure, though, missed out on her chances, first running into a Lourdes Clemente's block then having her last-ditch attempt come up way short.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a last-ditch attempt to win voters with possible populist spending measures in Friday's budget, risking his debt targets in the process.
In a last-ditch attempt by the anti-Brexit media to thwart the choice of the majority, the media are now making all sorts of unsubstantiated claims of wrong doing by Arron Banks.
The prime minister launched the amnesty scheme and reforms package in a last-ditch attempt at broadening the government's revenue base.
The prime minister launched the amnesty scheme and reforms package in a last-ditch attempt at broadening the government's revenue base, merely 55 days before the end of the government's tenure.
THOUSANDS of people demonstrated in Madrid and Barcelona yesterday in a last-ditch attempt to stave off a national crisis amid Catalonia's threat to secede from the rest of Spain.
The so-called lion on his journey home made a last-ditch attempt to undo a devastating Supreme Court decision that could land him and his family in jail.
President Nicos Anastasiades will make a last-ditch attempt in the coming days to convince electricity company unions to call off their strike, which could affect the supply of power, a presidential palace source said.
Helen Davies, who has had cancer in her heart, lungs, spine and sternum, was told to take a special drug known as Kadcyla in a last-ditch attempt to prolong her life.
In a last-ditch attempt to save the situ, David suggests they sort it out between them, but Callum's not having it.
The meeting was an apparent last-ditch attempt to save the coalition between Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party and the more centrist Yesh Atid.
Berlin, Muharram 12, 1436, Nov 5, 2014, SPA -- German train drivers on Wednesday rejected a last-ditch attempt by the national railway company, Deutsche Bahn, to head off a more than four-day strike that could cost the firm 50 million to 60 million euros (62.6 million to 75.12 million dollars), according to dpa.
BALFOUR Beatty spurned a last-ditch attempt by Carillion to keep alive the prospect of a PS3billion merger.
This last-ditch attempt to hoodwink Northern voters just proves the Tories have come to the end of the line.