Basic+ Word of the Day: struggle

struggle (verb, noun) past tense: struggled

He struggles to understand his history homework.

Struggle means ‘to work hard to solve a problem.’

• Teresa struggles to make enough money to pay the rent.
• Frank struggles with German grammar.

Struggle also means ‘to fight hard against an attacker.’

• The soldier struggled with the enemy in hand-to-hand combat.
• The grandmother struggled with the purse snatcher, until he ran away without her purse.

A struggle is an act of struggling.

• The struggle for human rights is a noble pursuit.
• It's always a struggle for me to wake up in time for work.

In pop culture

Struggle is a perfect topic for a song. Here are two completely different songs with that name. Both have lyrics in the comments below the videos. Enjoy!

First, listen to Keith Richards’ “Struggle” from his album Talk Is Cheap:

Now, for something completely different, listen to Toots and the Maytals, a Jamaican group, singing another song by the same name:

There are other meanings of struggle.