# struggle

Pronunciation: say "STRUG-uhl" /ˈstrʌɡəl/

## Verb

1. To have difficulty doing, managing, or understanding something.
   - Simple: To find something hard to do or deal with.
   - _Students often struggle with abstract concepts in their first year._
   - _She struggled to balance her job with caring for her parents._
3. To make great efforts against difficulty or opposition; to fight or contend for or against something.
   - Simple: To try very hard against something that holds you back or fights you.
   - _Activists struggled for decades to win the right to vote._
   - _Workers at the mill continued to struggle for fair pay, organizing strikes and petitions despite threats from the owners._
4. To make efforts with twisting or contortions of the body, as when trying to break free.
   - Simple: To twist and move your body hard, often while trying to get free.
   - _The prisoner struggled against his bonds for hours._
   - _Fish struggle violently when lifted out of the water._
5. To make one's way somewhere, or into or out of something, with great physical effort.
   - Simple: To move somewhere, or get into or out of something, with great physical effort.
   - _The hikers struggled through knee-deep snow to reach the hut before dark._
   - _Every morning she has to struggle into her heavy winter boots before heading out to feed the animals._

## Noun

2. A state of strife or contention, or a great effort made in the face of difficulty.
   - Simple: A hard fight or great effort to do or get something.
   - _The civil rights struggle reshaped the nation over a generation._
   - _Her daily struggle with chronic pain slowly wore her down._
6. A twisting movement of the body made in an attempt to escape or to accomplish a difficult task.
   - Simple: A twisting of the body when trying to get free or do something hard.
   - _After a brief struggle, the suspect broke free of the officer's grip._
   - _The trapped bird's frantic struggles only tightened the netting around it._

## Origin

This word comes from Middle English struglen, of obscure origin, and is related to Scots strugil ("to struggle, grapple, contend"). It may derive from a variant linked to Middle Dutch struyckelen ("to stumble, trip"), from Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European roots meaning "to be stiff" or "to stumble." An alternative account traces it to Old Norse strúgr ("arrogance, pride, ill-will") plus a frequentative suffix, from the same ancient root.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/struggle (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).