Rewards are given for obedience alone, the mere attempt being insufficient.

The mere attempt should be enough, but I've left nothing to chance.

This name itself is in the end a mere attempt and, if you will, a temptation.

Their magic is nothing to mine, and the mere attempt revealed to us who we were seeking.

A mere verbal attempt to change the conversation would be useless.

Instead they were something deeper than mere attempts at making contact.

By "keeping to it at all" is meant the mere attempt to keep to it.

I took the previous gang raid to be a mere blind attempt.

He added, "The first two scores were mere discarded attempts, which have never been published or performed."

But on this occasion it was a mere attempt to break the record for speed.