How to Use avail in a Sentence

avail

1 of 2 verb
  • Our best efforts did not avail.
  • For this is a bright light to which all should avail themselves at least once.
    — Rob Hubbard, Twin Cities, 23 May 2026
  • The dapper cat himself may need to avail himself of his nine lives.
    — Marco Della Cava, USA TODAY, 11 Mar. 2022
  • But Guy can’t even avail himself of those dumb, blunt freedoms.
    — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 13 Aug. 2021
  • Emmett gives a sure-mom promise that does little to avail her of her worry.
    — Robert Daniels, Time, 14 Oct. 2022
  • The ultimate hope is that more users will avail themselves of treatment.
    — Andy Sheehan, CBS News, 23 Feb. 2026
  • Still, Holmes is happy to avail himself if needed.
    — Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 2 Jan. 2026
  • Both men availed themselves of substitutes.
    — Stacy Schiff, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2025
  • Kimbrel availed himself to anyone who wanted to talk.
    — Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 22 May 2026
  • Taxpayers can choose to forego all exemptions and avail the new lower tax slabs.
    — Manavi Kapur, Quartz India, 1 Feb. 2020
  • Another way to stay on top of the job search process is to avail yourself of newsletters and alerts.
    — Charles G. Thompson, Wired, 18 Sep. 2021
  • The same tools that availed at the start do not avail in the middle or facing the limit point of existence.
    — Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 1 Jan. 2023
  • In these short vignettes and bursts typed largely on the computer, the arcs availed themselves.
    — Literary Hub, 15 May 2026
  • Fewer and fewer availed themselves.
    — Catherine Lacey, New Yorker, 5 Apr. 2026
  • Trump does have a record of availing himself of federal help meant for small businesses.
    — Meg Cramer, ProPublica, 8 Apr. 2020
  • In fact, not everyone even avails themselves of the vaccines that are developed for it.
    — Klara Glowczewska, Town & Country, 1 Feb. 2020
  • Summer’s terrific, too, but not enough people avail themselves of the wonder just to the south.
    — Chicago Tribune Staff, Chicago Tribune, 2 Aug. 2023
  • But Lynn, 77, did avail herself of a gold chair the majority of her time on stage.
    — Mary Colurso | [email protected], al, 4 Oct. 2022
  • Some of this is flowing to money market funds in order to avail of high interest rates that the banks do not offer.
    — Mike O'Sullivan, Forbes, 6 May 2023
  • Yet all that knowing didn’t stop me from availing myself of the alchemical wonders of hair dye.
    — Longreads, 5 June 2019
  • These are highly recommended for those who have availed loans in the past and repaid without any defaults.
    — Adheer Dhar, Quartz India, 23 Apr. 2020
  • None of that availed him much here, in a work that little rewards understatement or great subtlety.
    — New York Times, 8 May 2018
  • Perhaps some of his future guests will come armed with hotter takes, or juicier gossip, to avail the show’s relaxed host in his smoky garage.
    — David Sims, The Atlantic, 7 Feb. 2026
  • There’s no indication which, if any, of the other options Holmes has availed herself of.
    — Chris Morris, Fortune, 11 July 2023
  • The group quickly availed themselves of the refreshments—pizza, lemonade, lunchbox-size bags of chips.
    — Anna Wiener, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
  • Facebook clearly gets something from the app, in the form of users who spend the whole of their conscious lives availing themselves of its products.
    — Alex Shephard, New Republic, 12 Feb. 2018
  • But for shorter domestic travels, some flyers can still avail themselves of 21+ perks.
    — Zach Wichter, USA TODAY, 29 Jan. 2024
  • Magnussen did avail himself of some recordings of Sirico to help get his distinctive patter down.
    — Josh Rottenberg, Los Angeles Times, 25 Aug. 2021
  • There is a very real market for this kind of fitness instruction, and lots of people really want to avail themselves of it.
    — Amanda Mull, The Atlantic, 27 Apr. 2022
  • One of the misconceptions about work from home or hybrid is that the entire workforce can avail itself with such arrangements.
    — Joe McKendrick, Forbes.com, 27 June 2026

avail

2 of 2 noun
  • Still, some are trying — and many to no avail.
    — Max Klaver, Miami Herald, 25 June 2026
  • Red, yellow and blue have each taken their turn to no avail.
    — Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 29 Nov. 2025
  • In the end, the calls to walk back the decision were to no avail.
    — Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 30 Mar. 2022
  • Maclin hit a superkick and tried for the pin, but to no avail.
    — Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 22 May 2026
  • Staffers had taken steps to keep the building warm, but to no avail.
    — Jessica Bartlett, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Feb. 2023
  • Death was already present and nobody wanted to die to no avail.
    — Zack Sharf, Variety, 12 May 2022
  • Bills like Kiehl’s have been introduced in the past, to no avail.
    — Iris Samuels, Anchorage Daily News, 29 Jan. 2023
  • Some users even tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app to no avail.
    — Jacob Siegal, BGR, 5 Oct. 2022
  • Montas tried his full repertoire in the seven-pitch at-bat to no avail.
    — Matt Kawahara, San Francisco Chronicle, 8 Apr. 2022
  • Kyiv has been asking for advanced air power since the spring, so far to no avail.
    — Karen Deyoung, Washington Post, 13 Feb. 2023
  • Kyiv has been asking for advanced air power since last spring, so far to no avail.
    — Karen Deyoung, Anchorage Daily News, 14 Feb. 2023
  • Some of her sober friends and I were trying to find her and get her help, but to no avail.
    — Gillian Telling, PEOPLE, 24 June 2026
  • Chase tried to tamp the flames by denying the telegram was sent, but to little avail.
    — Anne Halsey, JSTOR Daily, 6 Aug. 2025
  • She was then transferred and yelled for Jason again while on hold, still to no avail.
    — Charmaine Patterson, Peoplemag, 7 Sep. 2022
  • Tow trucks unsuccessfully tried to pull and lift the bus to no avail.
    — Jake Goodrick, Sacbee.com, 9 May 2026
  • The Pastores looked at flights from other cities, to no avail.
    — Ed Stannard, Hartford Courant, 1 Feb. 2023
  • Ronaldo tried a bicycle kick on the rebound, to no avail.
    — Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, 28 June 2026
  • Aid was provided to the high schooler, to no avail, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
    — Nicholas Rice, PEOPLE.com, 11 June 2022
  • For weeks, law enforcement officials searched the area to no avail.
    — Julian Mark, Washington Post, 3 June 2022
  • Meanwhile, a game like Avengers keeps adding more and more new classes (heroes) to no avail.
    — Paul Tassi, Forbes, 31 July 2022
  • Prosecutors argued with a judge to raise his bail and should be kept in custody but to no avail.
    — Ryan Gaydos, Fox News, 3 Aug. 2022
  • So more words are added to the question, and to no avail because the silence continues.
    — Greg Story, Forbes, 4 May 2022
  • Highlands head coach Jeremy Baioni came out to argue the call to no avail.
    — James Weber, The Enquirer, 29 May 2022
  • Hogan would try to slam Andre the Giant early in the match, but to no avail.
    — Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 17 Apr. 2026
  • Many left desperate, frantic comments and even launched a hunt for the cat in its native city to no avail.
    — Washington Post, 2 Mar. 2022
  • Kalish said that the parents returned to their original nesting place to search for them, but to no avail.
    — Scott Luxor, Sun Sentinel, 2 Sep. 2022
  • Wheeler circled around the perimeter and across the baseline hoping to dump it down to the big man to no avail.
    — Joel Lorenzi, The Indianapolis Star, 18 Mar. 2022
  • Instead, Quenneville screamed at on-ice officials from the bench, to no avail.
    — Eric Stephens, New York Times, 5 May 2026
  • The debtors tried to get Antero to release to them the proceeds of the oil & gas leases, but to no avail.
    — Jay Adkisson, Forbes.com, 27 June 2026
  • The scoreboard remained silent for some time after that, with both teams trying to set up solid forechecks, but to no avail.
    — Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 3 June 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'avail.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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