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Definition of wrestle verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

wrestle

verb
 
/ˈresl/
 
/ˈresl/
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they wrestle
 
/ˈresl/
 
/ˈresl/
he / she / it wrestles
 
/ˈreslz/
 
/ˈreslz/
past simple wrestled
 
/ˈresld/
 
/ˈresld/
past participle wrestled
 
/ˈresld/
 
/ˈresld/
-ing form wrestling
 
/ˈreslɪŋ/
 
/ˈreslɪŋ/
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  1. [intransitive, transitive] to fight somebody by holding them and trying to throw or force them to the ground, sometimes as a sport
    • As a boy he had boxed and wrestled.
    • wrestle with somebody Armed guards wrestled with the intruder.
    • She tried to wrestle with her attacker.
    • wrestle somebody (+ adv./prep.) Shoppers wrestled the raider to the ground.
    Topics Sports: other sportsc1
  2. [intransitive, transitive] to struggle physically to move or manage something
    • wrestle with something He wrestled with the controls as the plane plunged.
    • wrestle something + adv./prep. She wrestled the keys out of the ignition.
  3. [intransitive] to struggle to deal with something that is difficult synonym battle, grapple (2)
    • wrestle with something She had spent the whole weekend wrestling with the problem.
    • We wrestled for hours with the problem of which job to do first.
    • wrestle to do something She has been wrestling to raise the money all year.
  4. Word OriginOld English, frequentative of wrǣstan ‘wrest’.
See wrestle in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
previously
adverb
 
 
From the Word list
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