Bus drivers clambered under their vehicles with blow torches in a vain attempt to defreeze their fuel tanks.

Those tiny forks, often themselves shaped like corn-cobs, are twee, and a vain attempt to gentrify an ungentle food.

He gives monosyllabic answers to the simplest of questions in a vain attempt to close down any area of questioning about his public life.

We hug the coastline in a vain attempt to seek shelter from the wind.