Lewis & Short

Parsing inflected forms may not always work as expected. If the following does not give the correct word, try Latin Words or Perseus.

cōnātus, ūs, m. [conor].

  1. I. Abstr., an effort, exertion, struggle, endeavor: ue ista hercle magno jam conatu magnas nugas dixerit, Ter. Heaut. 4, 1, 8: quo majore conatu studioque aguntur, Cic. Quint. 14, 47: omnem sui tribunatus conatum in meam perniciem parare, id. Fam. 5, 2, 6: Genucius ad hostes magno conatu profectus, Liv. 7, 6, 9: in ipso conatu rerum circumegit se annus, i. e. just as the affair was well begun, id. 9, 18, 15 Weissenb. ad loc.: vixdum inchoatis rebus in ipso conatu gerendi belli, id. 32, 28, 4.
    1. B. Trop., an impulse, inclination, tendency: dedit natura beluis et sensum et appetitum, ut altero conatum haberent ad naturales pastus capessendos, altero secernerent, etc., Cic. N. D. 2, 47, 122: nulla est ullo in genere laus orationis, cujus in nostris orationibus non sit aliqua si non perfectio, at conatus tamen atque adumbratio, id. Or. 29, 103: se ad hostes contulit conatumque iracundiae suae morte sedavit, id. Brut. 10, 42.
  2. II. Concr., an attempt, effort, undertaking, enterprise, endeavor.
          1. (α) Sing.: alii, si perrumpere possent conati … telis repulsi hoc conatu destiterunt, Caes. B. G. 1, 8 fin.: principem esse ad conatum exercitus conparandi, Cic. Phil. 10, 11, 24: hac ego religione non sum ab hoc conatu repulsus, id. Or. 11, 36: si in me impetum facere conabitur … ejus conatum refutabo, id. Har. Resp. 4, 7: Icarus primo statim conatu decidit, Suet. Ner. 12: a conatu resistendi deterritus se dedidit, Nep. Dat. 4, 5.
          2. (β) Plur.: compressi tuos nefarios conatus, Cic. Cat. 1, 5, 11: perditi, id. Off. 1, 30, 109: quod conatus adversariorum infregissent, Caes. B, G. 2, 21: aut opprimet hominem aut omnis ejus motus conatusque prohibebit, Cic. Cat. 2, 12, 26: multis frustra conatibus captis, Liv. 3, 5, 6; 9, 4, 1; 21, 29, 5: conatibus alicujus accedere, Suet. Oth. 4: in mediis conatibus aegri Succidimus, Verg. A. 12, 910: obstare conatibus nostris, Ov. R. Am. 683; Auct. B. Alex. 9; cf.: optimi et clarissimi, Cic. Fam. 12, 10, 2: generosi, Quint. 2, 4, 4: crebri parvique, id. 8, 5, 29: ingentes adversus Germaniam, Tac. Agr. 13: vibrare nudis conatibus hastam, Sil. 13, 161: conatus alicujus supra vires, Scrib. Comp. 101.