Adjacent Words

Struggle definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

STRUGGLE, v.i. [This word may be formed on the root of stretch, right, etc. which signifies to strain; or more directly on the same elements in L., to wrinkle.]
1. Properly, to strive, or to make efforts with a twisting or with contortions of the body. Hence,
2. To use great efforts; to labor hard; to strive; to contend; as, to struggle to save life; to struggle with the waves; to struggle against the stream; to struggle with adversity.
3. To labor in pain or anguish; to be in agony; to labor in any kind of difficulty or distress.
Tis wisdom to beware, and better shun the bait than struggle in the snare.
STRUGGLE, n.
1. Great labor; forcible effort to obtain an object, or to avoid an evil; properly, a violent effort with contortions of the body.
2. Contest; contention; strife.
An honest man might look upon the struggle with indifference.
3. Agony; contortions of extreme distress.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an energetic attempt to achieve something; "getting through the crowd was a real struggle"; "he fought a battle for recognition" [syn: struggle, battle]
2: an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals); "the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph"-- Thomas Paine; "police tried to control the battle between the pro- and anti-abortion mobs" [syn: conflict, struggle, battle]
3: strenuous effort; "the struggle to get through the crowd exhausted her" v
1: make a strenuous or labored effort; "She struggled for years to survive without welfare"; "He fought for breath" [syn: fight, struggle]
2: to exert strenuous effort against opposition; "he struggled to get free from the rope"
3: climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling [syn: clamber, scramble, shin, shinny, skin, struggle, sputter]
4: be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight; "the tribesmen fought each other"; "Siblings are always fighting"; "Militant groups are contending for control of the country" [syn: contend, fight, struggle]

Merriam Webster's

I. intransitive verb (struggled; struggling) Etymology: Middle English struglen Date: 14th century 1. to make strenuous or violent efforts in the face of difficulties or opposition <struggling with the problem> 2. to proceed with difficulty or with great effort <struggled through the high grass> <struggling to make a living> • struggler noun II. noun Date: 1560 1. contest, strife <armed struggle> <a power struggle> 2. a violent effort or exertion ; an act of strongly motivated striving <a struggle to make ends meet> 3. tussle 1 <during the struggle the gun went off>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.intr. 1 make forceful or violent efforts to get free of restraint or constriction. 2 (often foll. by for, or to + infin.) make violent or determined efforts under difficulties; strive hard (struggled for supremacy; struggled to get the words out). 3 (foll. by with, against) contend; fight strenuously (struggled with the disease; struggled against superior numbers). 4 (foll. by along, up, etc.) make one's way with difficulty (struggled to my feet). 5 (esp. as struggling adj.) have difficulty in gaining recognition or a living (a struggling artist). --n. 1 the act or a spell of struggling. 2 a hard or confused contest. 3 a determined effort under difficulties. Phrases and idioms: the struggle for existence (or life) the competition between organisms esp. as an element in natural selection, or between persons seeking a livelihood. Derivatives: struggler n. Etymology: ME strugle frequent. of uncert. orig. (perh. imit.)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Struggle Strug"gle, n. 1. A violent effort or efforts with contortions of the body; agony; distress. 2. Great labor; forcible effort to obtain an object, or to avert an evil. --Macaulay. 3. Contest; contention; strife. An honest might look upon the struggle with indifference. --Addison. Syn: Endeavor; effort; contest; labor; difficulty.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Struggle Strug"gle, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Struggled; p. pr. & vb. n. Struggling.] [OE. strogelen; cf. Icel. strj?ka to stroke, to beat, to flog, Sw. stryka to stroke, to strike, Dan. stryge, G. straucheln to stumble. Cf. Stroll.] 1. To strive, or to make efforts, with a twisting, or with contortions of the body. 2. To use great efforts; to labor hard; to strive; to contend forcibly; as, to struggle to save one's life; to struggle with the waves; to struggle with adversity. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it [Gettysburg] far above our power to add or detract. --Lincoln. 3. To labor in pain or anguish; to be in agony; to labor in any kind of difficulty or distress. 'T is wisdom to beware, And better shun the bait than struggle in the snare. --Dryden. Syn: To strive; contend; labor; endeavor.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(struggles, struggling, struggled) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. If you struggle to do something, you try hard to do it, even though other people or things may be making it difficult for you to succeed. They had to struggle against all kinds of adversity... Those who have lost their jobs struggle to pay their supermarket bills. VERB: V prep, V to-inf 2. A struggle is a long and difficult attempt to achieve something such as freedom or political rights. Life became a struggle for survival. ...a young lad's struggle to support his poverty-stricken family... He is currently locked in a power struggle with his Prime Minister. N-VAR: oft N prep, N to-inf 3. If you struggle when you are being held, you twist, kick, and move violently in order to get free. I struggled, but he was a tall man, well-built. VERB: V 4. If two people struggle with each other, they fight. She screamed at him to 'stop it' as they struggled on the ground... There were signs that she struggled with her attacker. V-RECIP: pl-n V, V with n • Struggle is also a noun. He died in a struggle with prison officers less than two months after coming to Britain. N-COUNT 5. If you struggle to move yourself or to move a heavy object, you try to do it, but it is difficult. I could see the young boy struggling to free himself... I struggled with my bags, desperately looking for a porter. VERB: V to-inf, V prep 6. If a person or organization is struggling, they are likely to fail in what they are doing, even though they might be trying very hard. The company is struggling to find buyers for its new product... One in five young adults was struggling with everyday mathematics... By the 1960s, many shipyards were struggling. VERB: only cont, V to-inf, V prep, V 7. An action or activity that is a struggle is very difficult to do. Losing weight was a terrible struggle. N-SING: a N

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. n. 1. Strive, labor, toil, endeavor, try, aim, exert one's self, make an effort, do one's best. 2. Contend, contest, fight, have a contest. 3. Writhe, be in agony, labor in distress. II. n. 1. Labor, endeavor, effort, exertion, pains. 2. Contest, contention, conflict, strife, fight. 3. Contortions, agony, distress.

Moby Thesaurus

Kilkenny cats, action, aerial combat, affray, agonize, aim, altercation, argument, armored combat, assay, attempt, battle, battle royal, be determined, be hard put, beat about, bickering, blunder, box, brawl, broil, brush, buffet, bullfight, careen, career, cat-and-dog life, clash, clash of arms, close, cockfight, collide, combat, come to blows, compete, competition, conflict, contend, contention, contentiousness, contest, contestation, controversy, cut and thrust, debate, determination, disputation, dispute, dogfight, drudgery, duel, effort, embroilment, encounter, endeavor, enmity, essay, exchange blows, exchange of blows, exertion, falter, fence, feud, fight, fight a duel, fighting, fire fight, flounce, flounder, fray, give and take, give satisfaction, grapple, grapple with, ground combat, grunt and sweat, hand-to-hand combat, hand-to-hand fight, hassle, have trouble, hostility, house-to-house combat, huff and puff, jostle, joust, labor, labor under difficulties, litigation, logomachy, lurch, match, mix it up, naval combat, offer, paper war, passage of arms, pitch, pitch and plunge, pitched battle, plunge, polemic, quarrel, quarreling, quarrelsomeness, rassle, reel, resolution, resolve, riot, rock, roll, rumble, run a tilt, running fight, scramble, scrapping, scrimmage, scuffle, seek, seethe, shoving match, skirmish, spar, squabbling, squirm, stagger, stand-up fight, strain, street fight, strife, strive, striving, struggling, study, stumble, sway, sweat, sweat blood, swing, tauromachy, thrash about, thrust and parry, tilt, toil, toss, toss and tumble, toss and turn, totter, tourney, travail, trial, try, tug-of-war, tumble, tussle, twist, undertake, undertaking, vie, wage war, walk on eggshells, wallop, wallow, war, war of words, warfare, welter, wiggle, words, work, worm, wrangling, wrestle, wriggle, writhe