Definition of STRUGGLE

struggle

Plural: struggles

Noun

  • an energetic attempt to achieve something
    • "getting through the crowd was a real struggle"
  • an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals); --Thomas Paine
  • strenuous effort
    • "the struggle to get through the crowd exhausted her"
  • A contortion of the body in an attempt to escape or to perform a difficult task.
  • Strife, contention, great effort.

Verb

Verb Forms: struggled, struggling, struggles

  • To make strenuous efforts against opposition or difficulty.
  • make a strenuous or labored effort
    • "She struggled for years to survive without welfare"
  • to exert strenuous effort against opposition
    • "he struggled to get free from the rope"
  • climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling
  • be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight
  • To strive, to labour in difficulty, to fight (for or against), to contend.
  • To have difficulty with something.
  • To strive, or to make efforts, with a twisting, or with contortions of the body.

Examples

  • During the centuries, the people of Ireland struggled constantly to assert their right to govern themselves.
  • Many Scrabble players STRUGGLE to use all seven tiles for a bingo bonus.
  • One of the doctor’s patients struggled with depression.
  • She struggled to escape from her assailant's grasp.

Origin / 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"; > German strauchen, straucheln).
Alternative etymology derives the base of struggle from Old Norse strúgr (“arrogance, pride, spitefulness, ill-will”) + -le (frequentative suffix), from Proto-Germanic *strūkaz (“stiff, rigid”), ultimately from the same Proto-Indo-European root above, which would make it cognate with dialectal Swedish strug (“contention, strife, discord”), Norwegian stru (“obstinate, unruly”), Danish struende (“reluctantly”), Scots strug (“difficulty, perplexity, a laborious task”).

Scrabble Score: 10

struggle: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
struggle: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
struggle: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 14

struggle: valid Words With Friends Word