The Collaborative International Dictionary
Struggle \Strug"gle\, v. i. [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.]
To strive, or to make efforts, with a twisting, or with contortions of the body.
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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. -
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.
Wiktionary
vb. (en-past of: struggle)
Usage examples of "struggled".
She struggled to regain the discipline Abe had taught her, slowing her breathing, and steadying against the strain.
Damien struggled to his side, half-running, half-sliding on the treacherous ice.
But I struggled into an old sweater and found it covered me halfway to the knees.
The vocabulary which Ken had struggled to learn was all too insufficient to express such intangibles as aggression or isolation, much less the fact that the colonists must leave as soon as they could obtain transport.
And she struggled up and out of the comfortable position he had arranged.
Once again the feeling of terrible loss assailed him as the unreceptive center of his soul struggled with the remorseful knowledge that he must leave this grandeur, this spaciousness, this thrilling recurrence of danger.
Of course, he had arrived after Ken and the other ten colonists had struggled through an unbelievably long and cold winter to build homes for their families when the ship arrived in the springtime.
She paused, watching Nrrna shake her head, her eyes mournfully big as she struggled with her principles-her honor.
Gasping with pain and surprise, Ken struggled to his feet to defend himself against the attacking Hrrubans.
The little Gringg struggled to hold on, gripping as hard as he could with his knees to keep from tumbling off.
No, she isn't to blame and I hope it never occurs to her that, in the crisis, instinct overrode reason and it was Afra she struggled to save.
Sobbing, Damia struggled for consciousness, sanity, and a release from her agony.
So he scrambled as desperately to reach the shadowy walls of the Hatching Ground as he had struggled to cross the bowl.
Disoriented, they struggled to their feet, staring uncertainly at each other in the fading light.
Varian struggled to a sitting position, drawing her legs away from Tor's meter-high triangular lump of granite.