Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Struggle

Strug′gle

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Struggled
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Struggling
.]
[OE.
strogelen
; cf. Icel.
strj[GREEK]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.

Strug′gle

,
Noun.
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 1828 Edition

Struggle

STRUGGLE

,
Verb.
I.
[This word may be formed on the root of stretch, right, &c. 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

,
Noun.
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.

Definition 2024

struggle

struggle

English

Alternative forms

  • stroggell, strogell (obsolete)

Noun

struggle ‎(plural struggles)

  1. Strife, contention, great effort.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 23, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      The struggle with ways and means had recommenced, more difficult now a hundredfold than it had been before, because of their increasing needs. Their income disappeared as a little rivulet that is swallowed by the thirsty ground. He worked night and day to supplement it.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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

  1. 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.‎
    • 2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport:
      England were ponderous with ball in hand, their runners static when taking the ball and their lines obvious, while their front row struggled badly in the scrum.
    • 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:
      Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.
  2. To strive, or to make efforts, with a twisting, or with contortions of the body.
    She struggled to escape from her assailant's grasp.‎
    • 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher, chapterII:
      Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.

Usage notes

  • This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Translations

Etymology

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 *strūkon ‎(“to stumble”), from Proto-Germanic *strūkōną, *strūkēną ‎(“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 strūhhēn, strūhhōn ("to stumble, trip, tumble, go astray"; > Modern German strauchen, straucheln).

Alternative etymology derives the base of struggle from Old Norse strúgr ‎(“arrogance, pride, spitefulness, ill-will”), from Proto-Germanic *strūkaz ‎(“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”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈstɹʌɡəl/
  • Rhymes: -ʌɡəl

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