struggle

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive)
• HYPHEN: strug=gle
• COUNT in NET: 5 in 5 verses (in OT : 1 in 1 verses) (in NT : 4 in 4 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

struggle, v. i. [OE. strogelen; cf. Icel. strjka to stroke, to beat, to flog, Sw. stryka to stroke, to strike, Dan. stryge, G. straucheln to stumble. Cf. Stroll.].

•  To strive, or to make efforts, with a twisting, or with contortions of the body.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it [Gettysburg] far above our power to add or detract."  [1913 Webster]
•  To labor in pain or anguish; to be in agony; to labor in any kind of difficulty or distress.  [1913 Webster]

  "'T is wisdom to beware,
  And better shun the bait than struggle in the snare."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- To strive; contend; labor; endeavor.

struggle, n. 

•  A violent effort or efforts with contortions of the body; agony; distress.  [1913 Webster]
•  Great labor; forcible effort to obtain an object, or to avert an evil.  Macaulay.  [1913 Webster]
•  Contest; contention; strife.  [1913 Webster]

  "An honest might look upon the struggle with indifference."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Endeavor; effort; contest; labor; difficulty.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

struggle, 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.

Idiom

the struggle for existence (or life) the competition between organisms esp. as an element in natural selection, or between persons seeking a livelihood.

Derivative

struggler n.

Etymology

ME strugle frequent. of uncert. orig. (perh. imit.)

THESAURUS

struggle

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

ROGET THESAURUS

struggle

Essay

N essay, trial, endeavor, attempt, aim, struggle, venture, adventure, speculation, coup d'essai, debut, probation, essaying, experimental, tentative, empirical, probationary, experimentally, on trial, at a venture, by rule of thumb, if one may be so bold, aut non tentaris aut perfice, chi non s'arrischia non guadagna.

Exertion

N exertion, effort, strain, tug, pull, stress, throw, stretch, struggle, spell, spurt, spirt, stroke of work, stitch of work, a strong pull a long pull and a pull all together, dead lift, heft, gymnastics, exercise, exercitation, wear and tear, ado, toil and trouble, uphill work, hard work, warm work, harvest time, labor, work, toil, travail, manual labor, sweat of one's brow, swink, drudgery, slavery, fagging, hammering, limae labor, industry, industriousness, operoseness, operosity, trouble, pains, duty, resolution, energy, laboring, laborious, operose, elaborate, strained, toilsome, troublesome, wearisome, uphill, herculean, gymnastic, palestric, hard-working, painstaking, strenuous, energetic, hard at work, on the stretch, laboriously, lustily, pugnis et calcibus, with might and main, with all one's might, with a strong hand, with a sledge hammer, with much ado, to the best of one's abilities, totis viribus, vi et armis, manibus pedibusque, tooth and nail, unguibus et rostro, hammer and tongs, heart and soul, through thick and thin, by the sweat of one's brow, suo Marte, aide-toi le ciel t'aidera, and still be doing, never done, buen principio la mitad es hecha, cosa ben fatta e' fatta due volie, it is better to wear out than to rust out, labor omnia vincit, labor, wide as the earth, has its summit in Heaven, le travail du corps delivre des peines de l'esprit, manu forti, ora et labora.

Difficulty

VB be difficult, run one hard, go against the grain, try one's patience, put one out, put to one's shifts, put to one's wit's end, go hard with one, try one, pose, perplex, bother, nonplus, gravel, bring to a deadlock, be impossible, be in the way of, meet with difficulties, labor under difficulties, get into difficulties, plunge into difficulties, struggle with difficulties, contend with difficulties, grapple with difficulties, labor under a disadvantage, be in difficulty, fish in troubled waters, buffet the waves, swim against the stream, scud under bare poles, Have much ado with, have a hard time of it, come to the push, come to the pinch, bear the brunt, grope in the dark, lose one's way, weave a tangled web, walk among eggs, get into a scrape, bring a hornet's nest about one's ears, be put to one's shifts, flounder, boggle, struggle, not know which way to turn, perdre son Latin, stick at, stick in the mud, stick fast, come to a stand, come to a standstill, come to a deadlock, hold the wolf by the ears, hold the tiger by the tail, render difficult, enmesh, encumber, embarrass, ravel, entangle, put a spoke in the wheel, lead a pretty dance.

Contention

N contention, strife, contest, contestation, struggle, belligerency, opposition, controversy, polemics, debate, war of words, logomachy, litigation, paper war, high words, sparring, competition, rivalry, corrivalry, corrivalship, agonism, concours, match, race, horse racing, heat, steeple chase, handicap, regatta, field day, sham fight, Derby day, turf, sporting, bullfight, tauromachy, gymkhana, boat race, torpids, wrestling, greco-roman wrestling, pugilism, boxing, fisticuffs, the manly art of self-defense, spar, mill, set-to, round, bout, event, prize fighting, quarterstaff, single stick, gladiatorship, gymnastics, jiujitsu, jujutsu, kooshti, sumo, athletics, athletic sports, games of skill, shindy, fracas, clash of arms, tussle, scuffle, broil, fray, affray, affrayment, velitation, colluctation, luctation, brabble, brigue, scramble, melee, scrimmage, stramash, bushfighting, free fight, stand up fight, hand to hand, running fight, conflict, skirmish, rencounter, encounter, rencontre, collision, affair, brush, fight, battle, battle royal, combat, action, engagement, joust, tournament, tilt, tilting, tournay, list, pitched battle, death struggle, struggle for life or death, life or death struggle, Armageddon, hard knocks, sharp contest, tug of war, naval engagement, naumachia, sea fight, duel, duello, single combat, monomachy, satisfaction, passage d'armes, passage of arms, affair of honor, triangular duel, hostile meeting, digladiation, deeds of arms, feats of arms, appeal to arms, pugnacity, combativeness, bone of contention, contending, together by the ears, at loggerheads, at war, at issue, competitive, rival, belligerent, contentious, combative, bellicose, unpeaceful, warlike, quarrelsome, pugnacious, pugilistic, gladiatorial, palestric, palestrical, a verbis ad verbera, a word and a blow, a very pretty quarrel as it stands, commune periculum concordiam parit, lis litem generat.

VB contend, contest, strive, struggle, scramble, wrestle, spar, square, exchange blows, exchange fisticuffs, fib, justle, tussle, tilt, box, stave, fence, skirmish, pickeer, fight, wrangle, contend with, grapple with, engage with, close with, buckle with, bandy with, try conclusions with, have a brush, with, tilt with, encounter, fall foul of, pitch into, clapperclaw, run a tilt at, oppose, reluct, join issue, come to blows, go to loggerheads, set to, come to the scratch, exchange shots, measure swords, meet hand to hand, take up the cudgels, take up the glove, take up the gauntlet, enter the lists, couch one's lance, give satisfaction, appeal to arms, lay about one, break the peace, compete with, cope with, vie with, race with, outvie, emulate, rival, run a race, contend for, stipulate for, stickle for, insist upon, make a point of.