Struggle meaning
Struggle is defined as to do something with difficulty.
An example of struggle is carrying a heavy load uphill for a long distance.
verb
To exert muscular energy, as against a material force or mass.
Struggled with the heavy load.
verb
To move or place (something) with an effort.
Struggled the heavy desk into the elevator.
verb
To make one's way with difficulty.
To struggle through a thicket.
verb
To bring, put, do, etc. by struggling.
verb
Advertisement
To make (one's way) with difficulty.
verb
Great effort or a series of efforts; violent exertion.
noun
Conflict; strife; contention.
noun
To contend or fight violently with an opponent.
verb
To make great efforts or attempts; strive; labor.
verb
Advertisement
To strive, or to make efforts, with a twisting, or with contortions of the body.
She struggled to escape from her assailant's grasp.
verb
To contend or compete.
verb
The act of struggling.
The rat's struggle to escape the snake's coils.
noun
A strenuous effort in the face of difficulty.
The struggle for civil rights.
noun
Advertisement
Strife, contention, or combat.
Armed struggle.
noun
Something that is difficult to do or achieve.
Getting him to agree will be a struggle.
noun
During the centuries, the people of Ireland struggled constantly to assert their right to govern themselves.
verb
Origin of struggle
- Middle English struglen
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- 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 strûkelen ("to stumble"; > Low German strükeln), Old High German strÅ«hhÄ“n, strÅ«hhÅn ("to stumble, trip, tumble, go astray"; > Modern German strauchen, straucheln).
From Wiktionary
- Alternative etymology derives the base of struggle from Old Norse strúgr (“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").
From Wiktionary