Better so, they said, than that he should fret himself with puny efforts to escape.

Change was a mass movement; it owed nothing to the puny efforts of the individual.

Looked at that way, it didn't seem such a puny effort after all.

But it was a puny effort, and he blocked it with his shoulder.

He was ready to give the last few bullets of his automatic, in a puny effort to ward off death.

But I realized it was a puny effort made against an avalanche in the market.

His strong hand held back her puny efforts against him like she might throw off a fly.

It was just a mind-game, a puny effort to freak him out.

The strong wood withstood his puny efforts, so he flung the bow away.

General Ironbeak was amused at the puny efforts of the creatures below.