Yet the book does not make its case, and indeed barely tries to.

It was a move to waste time, to get away from the woman who turned him into a clumsy fool without barely trying.

The film barely even tries.

Officials barely try to conceal this fact.

She barely even tries to help Benjy.

She clung to her consultant's position, even though she barely ever tried to interfere with the operation of the news media in Selene.

Now he and Mr. Silver barely try to conceal their contempt for each other.

But he barely tries to defend his startling claim that "the principles of the civil rights movement developed as a direct outgrowth of cultural relativism."

A young man barely out of law school tries to expose a 15 multibillion-dollar scam.

This style-obsessed search engine diva finds major dirt on people when she's barely trying.