"struggled" in the verb sense
1. fight, struggle
make a strenuous or labored effort
"She struggled for years to survive without welfare"
"He fought for breath"
2. struggle
to exert strenuous effort against opposition
"he struggled to get free from the rope"
3. clamber, scramble, shin, shinny, skin, struggle, sputter
climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling
4. contend, fight, struggle
be engaged in a fight carry on a fight
"the tribesmen fought each other"
"Siblings are always fighting"
"Militant groups are contending for control of the country"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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