struggle

strug·gle

1. To exert muscular energy, as against a material force or mass: struggled with the heavy load.
2. To be strenuously engaged with a problem, task, or undertaking: struggled with his math homework.
3. To make a strenuous effort; strive: struggled to be polite.
4. To contend or compete: “Right and wrong … will ever continue to struggle” (Abraham Lincoln).
5. To progress with difficulty: struggled through the novel.

1. The act of struggling.
2. Strenuous effort; striving.
3. Combat; strife: armed struggle.

Origin: Middle English struglen.

Related Forms:

• struggler strugˈgler noun

• strugˈgling·ly adverb