STRUGGLE

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does struggle mean? 

• STRUGGLE (noun)
  The noun STRUGGLE has 3 senses:

1. an energetic attempt to achieve something

2. an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals)

3. strenuous effort

  Familiarity information: STRUGGLE used as a noun is uncommon.

• STRUGGLE (verb)
  The verb STRUGGLE has 4 senses:

1. make a strenuous or labored effort

2. to exert strenuous effort against opposition

3. climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling

4. be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight

  Familiarity information: STRUGGLE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STRUGGLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An energetic attempt to achieve something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

battle; struggle

Context example:

he fought a battle for recognition

Hypernyms ("struggle" is a kind of...):

attempt; effort; endeavor; endeavour; try (earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "struggle"):

duel (any struggle between two skillful opponents (individuals or groups))

scramble; scuffle (an unceremonious and disorganized struggle)

joust; tilt (a combat between two mounted knights tilting against each other with blunted lances)

Derivation:

struggle (make a strenuous or labored effort)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

battle; conflict; struggle

Context example:

police tried to control the battle between the pro- and anti-abortion mobs

Hypernyms ("struggle" is a kind of...):

group action (action taken by a group of people)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "struggle"):

war; warfare (an active struggle between competing entities)

feud (a bitter quarrel between two parties)

combat; fight; fighting; scrap (the act of fighting; any contest or struggle)

turf war (a bitter struggle for territory or power or control or rights)

strife (bitter conflict; heated often violent dissension)

counterinsurgency; pacification (actions taken by a government to defeat insurgency)

insurrection; rebellion; revolt; rising; uprising (organized opposition to authority; a conflict in which one faction tries to wrest control from another)

tug-of-war (any hard struggle between equally matched groups)

class struggle; class war; class warfare (conflict between social or economic classes (especially between the capitalist and proletariat classes))

Derivation:

struggle (be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Strenuous effort

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

the struggle to get through the crowd exhausted her

Hypernyms ("struggle" is a kind of...):

effort; elbow grease; exertion; sweat; travail (use of physical or mental energy; hard work)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "struggle"):

grapple; grappling; hand-to-hand struggle; wrestle; wrestling (the act of engaging in close hand-to-hand combat)

Derivation:

struggle (to exert strenuous effort against opposition)

struggle (climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling)

struggle (make a strenuous or labored effort)

• STRUGGLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they struggle    ... he / she / it struggles   
Past simple: struggled   
Past participle: struggled   
-ing form: struggling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a strenuous or labored effort

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

fight; struggle

Context example:

He fought for breath

Hypernyms (to "struggle" is one way to...):

assay; attempt; essay; seek; try (make an effort or attempt)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "struggle"):

drive; labor; labour; push; tug (strive and make an effort to reach a goal)

flounder (behave awkwardly; have difficulties)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

struggle (strenuous effort)

struggle (an energetic attempt to achieve something)

struggler (a person who struggles with difficulties or with great effort)

Sense 2

Meaning:

To exert strenuous effort against opposition

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

he struggled to get free from the rope

Hypernyms (to "struggle" is one way to...):

endeavor; endeavour; strive (attempt by employing effort)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

struggle (strenuous effort)

struggler (a person who struggles with difficulties or with great effort)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

clamber; scramble; shin; shinny; skin; sputter; struggle

Hypernyms (to "struggle" is one way to...):

climb (move with difficulty, by grasping)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

struggle (strenuous effort)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

contend; fight; struggle

Context example:

Militant groups are contending for control of the country

"Struggle" entails doing...:

compete; contend; vie (compete for something; engage in a contest; measure oneself against others)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "struggle"):

chicken-fight; chickenfight (fight while sitting on somebody's shoulders)

tourney (engage in a tourney)

feud (carry out a feud)

skirmish (engage in a skirmish)

bandy (exchange blows)

fence (fight with fencing swords)

box (engage in a boxing match)

spar (fight with spurs)

scuffle; tussle (fight or struggle in a confused way at close quarters)

wrestle (engage in a wrestling match)

engage; wage (carry on (wars, battles, or campaigns))

fight back (defend oneself)

joust (joust against somebody in a tournament by fighting on horseback)

duel (fight a duel, as over one's honor or a woman)

assail; attack (launch an attack or assault on; begin hostilities or start warfare with)

war (make or wage war)

battle; combat (battle or contend against in or as if in a battle)

get back; settle (get one's revenge for a wrong or an injury)

defend; fight; fight back; fight down; oppose (fight against or resist strongly)

tug (struggle in opposition)

join battle (engage in a conflict)

fistfight (fight with the fists)

bear down (exert full strength)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

struggle (an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals))

 Context examples 

This dog was thrashing about in a death-struggle, directly on the trail, and Buck passed around him without stopping.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

But I’ll humour you. (All this in little gasps, with terrible struggles for breath between.) You’ve only my own good at heart.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My father was not scientific, and I was left to struggle with a child’s blindness, added to a student’s thirst for knowledge.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The struggle had not lasted more than three minutes.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

After a short struggle, however, Charles Hayter seemed to quit the field.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

“I suspect,” said Isabella, in a low voice, “there is no great struggle.”

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

But astronomers have struggled to work out which of these two galaxies is the more massive.

(No Winner in Milky Way-Andromeda Clash, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

And the competition for water is likely to increase, with UNESCO estimating 5.7 billion people could struggle to access water for at least one month a year, by 2050.

(Slightly dirty water ‘still ok’ against coronavirus, SciDev.Net)

At the sight of her thin limbs struggling in weak resistance, such a glow of fierce anger passed over Alleyne as set his head in a whirl.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the scene of the struggle.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)