Did one's best to point dirt out, possibly (5)
I believe the answer is:
tried
'did one's best' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with social activities as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'to point dirt out possibly' is the wordplay.
'to' becomes 't' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'point' becomes 'E' (compass point).
'out' means to remove the last letter.
'possibly' is an anagram indicator.
'e'+'dirt'='edirt'
'edirt' with its final letter taken away is 'edir'.
'edir' with letters rearranged gives 'ried'.
't'+'ried'='TRIED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tried that I've seen before include "tasted" , "Had a crack" , "heard in court" , "Attempted" , "checked out" .)