Struggle

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

• stroggell, strogell obsolete

Origin

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

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

Low German strükeln}, Old High German strūhhēn, strūhhōn

Modern German strauchen, straucheln}.

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

Full definition of struggle

Noun

1. Strife, contention, great effort.
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 23, The struggle with ways and means had recommenced, more difficult now a hundredfold than it had been before, because of their increasing needs. Their income disappeared as a little rivulet that is swallowed by the thirsty ground. He worked night and day to supplement it.

Verb

1. To strive, to labour in difficulty, to fight (for or against), to contend.
• 2011, October 1, Tom Fordyce, Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland, England were ponderous with ball in hand, their runners static when taking the ball and their lines obvious, while their front row struggled badly in the scrum.
• 2013-06-28, Joris Luyendijk, Our banks are out of control, Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.
2. During the centuries, the people of Ireland struggled constantly to assert their right to govern themselves.
3. To strive, or to make efforts, with a twisting, or with contortions of the body.She struggled to escape from her assailant's grasp.

Usage notes

This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See