struggle

strug·gle

Use struggle in a sentence

verb

Struggle is defined as to do something with difficulty.

An example of struggle is carrying a heavy load uphill for a long distance.

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"Struggle." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Struggle.

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Struggle. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Struggle

struggle

intransitive verb

-·gled, -·gling

to contend or fight violently with an opponent
to make great efforts or attempts; strive; labor
to make one's way with difficulty: to struggle through a thicket

Origin of struggle

Middle English strogelen from uncertain or unknown; perhaps

to bring, put, do, etc. by struggling
to make (one's way) with difficulty

great effort or a series of efforts; violent exertion
conflict; strife; contention

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"Struggle." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Struggle.

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Struggle. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Struggle

struggle

verb

strug·gled, strug·gling, strug·gles

verb

intransitive

To exert muscular energy, as against a material force or mass: struggled with the heavy load.
a. To be strenuously engaged with a problem, task, or undertaking: struggled for years before breaking through as an actor.
b. To have difficulty or make a strenuous effort doing something: struggled to be polite.
c. To move or progress with difficulty: struggled up the steep slope.
To contend or compete: “Right and wrong … will ever continue to struggle” ( Abraham Lincoln )

verb

transitive

To move or place (something) with an effort: struggled the heavy desk into the elevator.

noun

The act of struggling: the rat's struggle to escape the snake's coils.
A strenuous effort in the face of difficulty: the struggle for civil rights.
Strife, contention, or combat: armed struggle.
Something that is difficult to do or achieve: Getting him to agree will be a struggle.

Origin of struggle

Middle English struglen

Related Forms:

strug′gler
noun

strug′gling·ly
adverb

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"Struggle." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Struggle.

APA Style

Struggle. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Struggle

Noun

(plural struggles)

Strife, contention, great effort.

Verb

(third-person singular simple present struggles, present participle struggling, simple past and past participle struggled)

To strive, to labour in difficulty, to fight (for or against), to contend.
During the centuries, the people of Ireland struggled constantly to assert their right to govern themselves.
To strive, or to make efforts, with a twisting, or with contortions of the body.
She struggled to escape from her assailant's grasp.

Usage notes

This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive.

Origin

From Middle English struglen, stroglen, strogelen, of obscure origin. Cognate with Scots strugil (“to struggle, grapple, contend"). Perhaps from a variant of *strokelen, *stroukelen (> English stroll), from Middle Dutch struyckelen ("to stumble, trip, falter"; > Modern Dutch struikelen), the frequentative form of Old Dutch *strÅ«kon (“to stumble"), from Proto-Germanic *strÅ«kÅnÄ…, *strÅ«kÄ“nÄ… (“to be stiff"), from Proto-Indo-European *strug-, *ster- (“to be stiff; to bristle, strut, stumble, fall"), related to Middle Low German strÃ»kelen ("to stumble"; > Low German strÃ¼keln), Old High German strÅ«hhÄ“n, strÅ«hhÅn ("to stumble, trip, tumble, go astray"; > Modern German strauchen, straucheln).

Alternative etymology derives the base of struggle from Old Norse strÃºgr (“arrogance, pride, spitefulness, ill-will"), from Proto-Germanic *strÅ«kaz (“stiff, rigid"), ultimately from the same Proto-Indo-European root above, which would make it cognate with Swedish dialectal strug (“contention, strife, discord"), Norwegian stru (“obstinate, unruly"), Danish struende (“reluctantly"), Scots strug (“difficulty, perplexity, a laborious task").