I. ˈstrəgəl verb
( struggled ; struggled ; struggling -g(ə)liŋ ; struggles )
Etymology: Middle English struglen
intransitive verb
1. : to make violent, strenuous, labored, or convulsive exertions or efforts against difficult or forceful opposition or impeding or constraining circumstances : strive , contend
they struggled about the trough as furiously as a litter of pigs — T.B.Costain
with the driven rationality of church fathers struggling to formulate and express the accepted import of the Faith delivered to the saints — H.O.Taylor
the story of the human spirit struggling with sin — R.A.Hall b. 1911
struggled bravely against poverty — C.M.Fuess
the law has had to struggle with these problems — B.N.Cardozo
the point of view I am struggling to attack — T.S.Eliot
2. : to proceed with difficulty or with great effort
struggled through ancient exits never big enough to handle the crowd — Claudia Cassidy
the lamplight struggled out through the fog — Oscar Wilde
fell over prostrate trees, sank into deep holes and struggled out — Willa Cather
ancient Egypt was just struggling out of barbarism — Geoffrey Boumphrey
the band struggled through the … national anthem — Time
the college struggled along until 1855 — American Guide Series: Louisiana
transitive verb
: to bring to a desired state or condition by or as if by a struggle
struggled down the last of his emotions — R.L.Stevenson
Synonyms: see try
II. noun
( -s )
1. : an act of earnest striving : a violent effort or exertion (as to obtain an object, overcome a difficulty, or avert an evil)
if he makes no effort — shrinking without a struggle from his duty — he himself will not the less certainly perish — Thomas De Quincey
a struggle for freedom of thought
a struggle with disease
the boy had a struggle for a living
the orchestra's struggle for survival
2. : contest , contention , strife
the struggle between the natural sciences and religion ended in an armistice — Zechariah Chafee
attempts to express in musical form the struggle between sacred and profane love — Edward Sackville-West & Desmond Shawe-Taylor
the struggle with communism
a struggle over a political issue
a legal struggle
in the course of the struggle he was made prisoner and harshly treated — E.M.Coulter