struggle

Meaning

Noun

1. A contortion of the body in an attempt to escape or to perform a difficult task.
2. (figuratively) Strife, contention, great effort.

Verb

1. To strive, to labour in difficulty, to fight (for or against), to contend.
2. To have difficulty with something.
3. To strive, or to make efforts, with a twisting, or with contortions of the body.

Synonyms

fight

battle

strive

combat

contend

conflict

wrestle

scuffle

strife

effort

contest

endeavor

war

exertion

action

scramble

quarrel

endeavour

compete

attempt

strain

wriggle

tussle

competition

work hard

grapple

labour

labor

writhe

dispute

squirm

toil

fray

fighting

exert

flounder

contention

wrestling

🤼

resist

revolt

clamber

trouble

duel

travail

try

grappling

dogfight

encounter

pains

argument

Translations

lutte

lotta

Kampf

lutter

kämpfen

luta

combat

lucha

strijd

αγώνας

lottare

luchar

combattre

batalha

gevecht

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈstrʌɡəl/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: struglen

Cognate with Scots: strugil

Cognate with Middle Low German: strûkelen

Cognate with Low German: strükeln

Cognate with Old High German: strūhhēn

Cognate with German: strauchen

Cognate with Swedish: strug

Cognate with Norwegian: stru

Cognate with Danish: struende

Cognate with Scots: strug

In summary

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”).

Sentences

There were raised voices , and some sort of struggle appeared to be going on . .