• stroggell,strogell(obsolete)

FromMiddle Englishstruglen,stroglen,strogelen, of obscure origin. Cognate withScotsstrugil(“to struggle, grapple, contend”). Perhaps from a variant of*strokelen,*stroukelen(> Englishstroll), fromMiddle Dutchstruyckelen("to stumble, trip, falter"; > Modern Dutchstruikelen), the frequentative form ofOld Dutch*strūkon(“to stumble”), fromProto-Germanic*strūkōną,*strūkēną(“to be stiff”), fromProto-Indo-European*strug-,*ster-(“to be stiff; to bristle, strut, stumble, fall”), related toMiddle Low Germanstrûkelen("to stumble"; >Low Germanstrükeln),Old High Germanstrūhhēn,strūhhōn("to stumble, trip, tumble, go astray"; >Germanstrauchen,straucheln).

Alternative etymology derives the base ofstruggle fromOld Norsestrúgr(“arrogance, pride, spitefulness, ill-will”) +-le(frequentative suffix), fromProto-Germanic*strūkaz(“stiff, rigid”), ultimately from the same Proto-Indo-European root above, which would make it cognate with dialectalSwedishstrug(“contention, strife, discord”),Norwegianstru(“obstinate, unruly”),Danishstruende(“reluctantly”),Scotsstrug(“difficulty, perplexity, a laborious task”).

• (UK,US)IPA^(key):/ˈstrʌɡəl/,[ˈstɹʌɡl̩]

• Audio(US):

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• Hyphenation:strug‧gle
• Rhymes:-ʌɡəl

struggle (pluralstruggles)

1. Acontortion of thebody in an attempt toescape or to perform a difficult task.
2. (figurative)Strife,contention, greateffort.
   • 1918,W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, inThe Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.:The Bobbs-Merrill Company,→OCLC:

     Thestruggle 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.

   • 2019, Rachel Timoner, “Book Review: Textual Activism by Rabbi Mike Moskowitz”, inTikkun‎^[1]:

     R. Moskowitz charges cisgender readers to be as conscious and deliberate with our religious identities as transgender and gender non-conforming people are with theirs, arguing that holiness is only achieved through continuous and unrelentingstruggle and change.

struggle (third-person singular simple presentstruggles,present participlestruggling,simple past and past participlestruggled)

1. Tostrive, tolabour indifficulty, tofight (for oragainst), tocontend.

   During the centuries, the people of Irelandstruggled constantly to assert their right to govern themselves.

   • 1951 October, “Notes and News: The Harmonium at Troutbeck”, inRailway Magazine, page709:

     Troutbeck is a tiny village midway between Penrith and Keswick in a very sparsely populated part of Cumberland, and it used to be said by facetious travellers that the reason why it ever had a station at all was to give the engine a rest after it hadstruggled up the long and trying incline from Threlkeld.

   • 2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, inBBC Sport:

     England were ponderous with ball in hand, their runners static when taking the ball and their lines obvious, while their front rowstruggled badly in the scrum.

   • 2013 June 28,Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, inThe Guardian Weekly, volume189, number 3, page21:

     Seeing the British establishmentstruggle 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.

   • 2022 January 12, Paul Clifton, “Network News: Emergency timetables as absences surge due to COVID”, inRAIL, number948, page 6:

     Most train operators have reduced services with emergency timetables, as theystruggle to cope with a rapid increase in staff absences due to the Omicron variant of COVID.

   • 2024 September 30, Chelsea Bailey, “‘Take his pulse, he’s blue’: Bodycam footage shows fatal encounter between epileptic Indiana man and first responders”, inCNN‎^[2]:

     The sheriff’s office released a compilation of bodycam footage Friday from deputies at the scene that shows them handcuffing Earl and pinning him down for more than 20 minutes as hestruggles and repeatedly shouts for help.

2. To havedifficulty with something.

   One of the doctor’s patientsstruggled with depression.

3. To strive, or to make efforts, with a twisting, or with contortions of the body.

   Shestruggled to escape from her assailant's grasp.

   • 1879,R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, inThe Amateur Poacher, London:Smith, Elder, & Co., […],→OCLC:

     Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and,struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.

• This is acatenative verb that takes theto infinitive. SeeAppendix:English catenative verbs

• gurglets