vain effort

He made a vain effort to close the door, then laughed.

Some members of the Commune made a vain last effort to stop the crime, but it had gone too far.

He tells of his own vain efforts to trace them.

The old man turned just in time to see him coming, and made a vain effort to jerk the lever.

He looked about him in a vain effort at orientation.

His lips fell apart in the vain effort to answer.

She pushed against his shoulders in a vain effort to hold him off.

I had visited her often in the London hospital where vain efforts were made to stop the spread of cancer.

She made one more vain effort and then burst into tears.

I took a deep breath in a vain effort to clear my head, then stood up.