ADJ

considerable
hard
It took a whole day of hard effort to knock down the wall
constant, sustained
extra
physical
intellectual, mental

QUANT

amount
the amount of effort required

VERB + EFFORT

demand, need, require, take
It takes constant effort to become fluent in a language
devote, expend, put in
All the team members have put in a great deal of effort
spare no
No effort has been spared to make this hotel a welcoming, comfortable place
be (well) worth
The walk is difficult but well worth the effort

EFFORT + VERB

go into
A lot of effort went into making the costumes

PREP

with/without ~
This can be done quickly and with very little effort

PHRASES

a great deal of effort

ADJ

all-out, big, brave, determined, enormous, great, herculean, heroic, huge, major, remarkable, special, strenuous, superhuman, tremendous, valiant
I can see you have made a big effort to clean up
desperate, frantic
their frantic efforts to put out the fire
final, last, last-ditch
The UN General Secretary flew in in a last-ditch effort to save the talks
genuine, positive, real, serious
feeble
She made a feeble effort to smile, then started crying again
sporadic
I make sporadic efforts to sort out my files
successful
fruitless, futile, unsuccessful
collaborative, collective, concerted, cooperative, joint, team
Students, teachers and families got together in a team effort to decorate the school
conscious, deliberate
I have to make a conscious effort to be polite so early in the morning
voluntary
The museum relies on the voluntary efforts of enthusiasts
fund-raising

VERB + EFFORT

make
increase, intensify, redouble, renew, step up
The police have renewed their efforts to find the murderer
channel, concentrate, focus
The police channelled their efforts into searching around the river
fail in
He failed in h
resist
The wound resisted all my efforts to stop it bleeding
abandon
be rewarded for, reward
Her efforts were rewarded when she won an Oscar
applaud
The gallery owner applauded the efforts of firefighters to save the exhibits

EFFORT + VERB

come to nothing, fail

PREP

in an/your ~
The club has changed the rules in an effort to make them fairer
through sb's ~
Through their efforts, enough money was raised to buy the equipment

PHRASES

your best efforts
Despite our best efforts, we didn't manage to win the match
a reward for your efforts
Second prize was a fair reward for his efforts
make every effort
We are making every effort to obtain the release of the hostages