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⇱ struggle - WordReference.com Dictionary of English

struggle

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UK:**UK and possibly other pronunciationsUK and possibly other pronunciations/ˈstrʌgəl/US:USA pronunciation: IPA and respellingUSA pronunciation: IPA/ˈstrʌgəl/ ,USA pronunciation: respelling(strug′əl)

Inflections of 'struggle' (v): (⇒ conjugate)
struggles
v 3rd person singular
struggling
v pres p
struggled
v past
struggled
v past p

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
strug•gle /ˈstrʌgəl/USA pronunciation   v., -gled, -gling, n. 
v. 
  1. to fight hard against an attacker:[no object;(~ + against/with + object)]He struggled against the mugger and at last broke free.
  2. to work hard to solve a task or problem:[no object;(~ + against/with + object)]She struggled with calculus but eventually understood it.
  3. to make great efforts;
    strive:[~ + to + verb]He struggled to get free.
  4. to advance with great effort:[~ + through + object]to struggle through heavy snow.

n. [countable]
  1. an act or instance of struggling, as a war or contest:a struggle with the children to get them to go to bed on time.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
strug•gle  (strug′əl),USA pronunciation v., -gled, -gling, n. 
v.i. 
  1. to contend with an adversary or opposing force.
  2. to contend resolutely with a task, problem, etc.;
    strive:to struggle for existence.
  3. to advance with violent effort:to struggle through the snow.
  4. Sport(of athletes and competitors) to be coping with inability to perform well or to win;
    contend with difficulty:After struggling for the whole month of June, he suddenly caught fire and raised his batting average 30 points.

v.t. 
  1. to bring, put, etc., by struggling:She struggled the heavy box into a corner.
  2. to make (one's way) with violent effort.

n. 
  1. the process or an act or instance of struggling.
  2. a war, fight, conflict, or contest of any kind.
  3. a task or goal requiring much effort to accomplish or achieve.
  • Middle English struglen, stroglen, frequentative verb, verbal (see -le) formed on a base of obscure origin, originally 1350–1400
strug′gler, n. 
strug′gling•ly, adv. 
    1. oppose, contest, fight, conflict. 7. endeavor, exertion. 8. encounter, skirmish. Struggle, brush, clash refer to a hostile meeting of opposing persons, parties, or forces. Struggle implies vigorous bodily effort or violent exertion:a hand-to-hand struggle.A brush is a brief, but smart, and often casual combat:a brush between patrols.Clash implies a direct and sharp collision between opposing parties, efforts, interests, etc.:a clash of opinions.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
struggle /ˈstrʌɡəl/ vb
  1. (intransitive; usually followed by for or against; may take an infinitive) to exert strength, energy, and force; work or strive
  2. (intransitive) to move about strenuously so as to escape from something confining
  3. (intransitive) to contend, battle, or fight
  4. (intransitive) to go or progress with difficulty
 n
  1. a laboured or strenuous exertion or effort
  2. a fight or battle
  3. the act of struggling
  4. the struggle ⇒ South African the radical and armed opposition to apartheid, esp by the military wings of the ANC and the PAC
Etymology: 14th Century: of obscure originˈstruggling adj
'struggle' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Collocations: a [titanic, great, violent, major, mammoth] struggle, struggle to [find, make, get, survive, keep, maintain, regain], a [power, survival] struggle, more...

🗣️Forum discussions with the word(s) "struggle" in the title:

'They struggle with things like transpose/transposing/to transpose...
a future <where / when> we struggle
A strange sentence structure that make me struggle so much!
a struggle / a fight / a battle
a struggle for truth and justice VS. a fight for truth and justice
acknowledge a problem, but struggle...
all I've done is struggled/struggle with
an upward struggle on its hands
As I struggle and push the car down one street and up another
as long as you struggle/ are struggling you will get tutoring
as they struggle
assertion of, and the struggle over, identity [comma]
black-and-white portraits of urban struggle
Britons struggle with maths
capture the struggle
Christian struggle and the soldier’s
collocation : struggle carried on/out
come to mark the struggle
confronts governments <as> they struggle
creative change without tension or struggle
dared not struggle
Death struggle
difference between struggle and struggle back
divert the workers from the elections <to the armed struggle>.
Don’t struggle.
Driving both was the struggle for existence [drive]
Elbow/struggle my way through
enmeshed in the web of this power struggle
fight / struggle
gist of the struggle
more...

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