Can one person make a 'concerted effort'?

Ever hear someone say that he’s going to make a concerted effort to do something -- finish a project, make good on a New Year’s resolution, something like that?

Well, here’s an interesting fact about that term: Technically, one person can’t make a concerted effort. That’s because most definitions of concerted require more than one person to do it.

This is from Webster’s New World: Concerted: Planned or accomplished together; combined: "We made a concerted effort to solve the problem."

And here’s Merriam-Webster’s: Concerted: 1.  mutually contrived or agreed on: "a concerted effort"; 2.  performed in unison: "concerted artillery fire."

I’m omitting some of the definitions that have to do with music because they’re not what we’re talking about. But the very idea of a concert nonetheless illustrates why some people might object to the idea of a single person making a “concerted effort.” There’s no mutual contriving or agreeing. There’s no one to perform in unison with.

Sure, you can get away with saying, "I made a concerted effort to arrive on time." But it's probably not the best way to say it. If you want to describe the effort of one person and you find “concerted effort” on the tip of your tongue, consider replacing “concerted” with “concentrated” or “deliberate” or “strenuous” or any other word that actually means what you want to say.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 24th, 2026 at 11:59 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.