(~s, struggling, ~d)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
If you ~ to do something, you try hard to do it, even though other people or things may be making it difficult for you to succeed.
They had to ~ against all kinds of adversity...
Those who have lost their jobs ~ to pay their supermarket bills.
VERB: V prep, V to-inf
2.
A ~ is a long and difficult attempt to achieve something such as freedom or political rights.
Life became a ~ for survival.
...a young lad’s ~ to support his poverty-stricken family...
He is currently locked in a power ~ with his Prime Minister.
N-VAR: oft N prep, N to-inf
3.
If you ~ when you are being held, you twist, kick, and move violently in order to get free.
I ~d, but he was a tall man, well-built.
VERB: V
4.
If two people ~ with each other, they fight.
She screamed at him to ‘stop it’ as they ~d on the ground...
There were signs that she ~d with her attacker.
V-RECIP: pl-n V, V with n
•
Struggle is also a noun.
He died in a ~ with prison officers less than two months after coming to Britain.
N-COUNT
5.
If you ~ to move yourself or to move a heavy object, you try to do it, but it is difficult.
I could see the young boy struggling to free himself...
I ~d with my bags, desperately looking for a porter.
VERB: V to-inf, V prep
6.
If a person or organization is struggling, they are likely to fail in what they are doing, even though they might be trying very hard.
The company is struggling to find buyers for its new product...
One in five young adults was struggling with everyday mathematics...
By the 1960s, many shipyards were struggling.
VERB: only cont, V to-inf, V prep, V
7.
An action or activity that is a ~ is very difficult to do.
Losing weight was a terrible ~.
N-SING: a N