vain attempt

It is my vain attempt to keep a part of me going long after I am gone.

But it was a vain attempt; he'd heard the sound.

I say with him as a vain attempt at status.

After these vain attempts he decided to go over the "obstruction".

Joan thought he was making a vain attempt to break his bonds.

I read these articles in a vain attempt to understand far right thinking.

She would want him to escape and not risk his life in a vain attempt to be sure of her.

"Go on without me," she said after two vain attempts.

A vain attempt: for this some near, clear, fixed point was required.

He made several vain attempts to win the lost prestige.