From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
1. A violent effort or efforts with contortions of the body; agony; distress.
2. Great labor; forcible effort to obtain an object, or to avert an evil. --Macaulay.
3. Contest; contention; strife.
An honest might look upon the struggle with indifference. --Addison.
Syn: Endeavor; effort; contest; labor; difficulty.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Struggle \Strug"gle\, verb (used without an object) [imp. & p. p. {Struggled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Struggling}.] [OE. strogelen; cf. Icel. strj?ka to stroke, to beat, to flog, Sw. stryka to stroke, to strike, Dan. stryge, G. straucheln to stumble. Cf. {Stroll}.]
1. To strive, or to make efforts, with a twisting, or with contortions of the body.
2. To use great efforts; to labor hard; to strive; to contend forcibly; as, to struggle to save one's life; to struggle with the waves; to struggle with adversity.
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it [Gettysburg] far above our power to add or detract. --Lincoln.
3. To labor in pain or anguish; to be in agony; to labor in any kind of difficulty or distress.
'T is wisdom to beware, And better shun the bait than struggle in the snare. --Dryden.
Syn: To strive; contend; labor; endeavor.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: an energetic attempt to achieve something; "getting through the crowd was a real struggle"; "he fought a battle for recognition" [syn: {battle}]
2: an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals); "the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph"--Thomas Paine; "police tried to control the battle between the pro- and anti-abortion mobs" [syn: {conflict}, {battle}]
3: strenuous effort; "the struggle to get through the crowd exhausted her"
verb
1: make a strenuous or labored effort; "She struggled for years to survive without welfare"; "He fought for breath" [syn: {fight}]
2: to exert strenuous effort against opposition; "he struggled to get free from the rope"
3: climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling [syn: {clamber}, {scramble}, {shin}, {shinny}, {skin}, {sputter}]
4: be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight; "the tribesmen fought each other"; "Siblings are always fighting" [syn: {fight}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
175 Moby Thesaurus words for "struggle": Kilkenny cats, action, aerial combat, affray, agonize, aim, altercation, argument, armored combat, assay, attempt, battle, battle royal, be determined, be hard put, beat about, bickering, blunder, box, brawl, broil, brush, buffet, bullfight, careen, career, cat-and-dog life, clash, clash of arms, close, cockfight, collide, combat, come to blows, compete, competition, conflict, contend, contention, contentiousness, contest, contestation, controversy, cut and thrust, debate, determination, disputation, dispute, dogfight, drudgery, duel, effort, embroilment, encounter, endeavor, enmity, essay, exchange blows, exchange of blows, exertion, falter, fence, feud, fight, fight a duel, fighting, fire fight, flounce, flounder, fray, give and take, give satisfaction, grapple, grapple with, ground combat, grunt and sweat, hand-to-hand combat, hand-to-hand fight, hassle, have trouble, hostility, house-to-house combat, huff and puff, jostle, joust, labor, labor under difficulties, litigation, logomachy, lurch, match, mix it up, naval combat, offer, paper war, passage of arms, pitch, pitch and plunge, pitched battle, plunge, polemic, quarrel, quarreling, quarrelsomeness, rassle, reel, resolution, resolve, riot, rock, roll, rumble, run a tilt, running fight, scramble, scrapping, scrimmage, scuffle, seek, seethe, shoving match, skirmish, spar, squabbling, squirm, stagger, stand-up fight, strain, street fight, strife, strive, striving, struggling, study, stumble, sway, sweat, sweat blood, swing, tauromachy, thrash about, thrust and parry, tilt, toil, toss, toss and tumble, toss and turn, totter, tourney, travail, trial, try, tug-of-war, tumble, tussle, twist, undertake, undertaking, vie, wage war, walk on eggshells, wallop, wallow, war, war of words, warfare, welter, wiggle, words, work, worm, wrangling, wrestle, wriggle, writhe
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