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Struggle vs Trouble - What's the difference?

struggle | trouble | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between struggle and trouble

is that struggle is strife, contention, great effort while trouble is a distressful or dangerous situation.

As verbs the difference between struggle and trouble

is that struggle is to strive, to labour in difficulty, to fight (for or against), to contend while trouble is to disturb, stir up, agitate (a medium, especially water).

struggle

English

Alternative forms

* (l), (l) (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • Strife, contention, great effort.
  • *, chapter=23
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=The struggle with ways and means had recommenced, more difficult now a hundredfold than it had been before, because of their increasing needs. Their income disappeared as a little rivulet that is swallowed by the thirsty ground. He worked night and day to supplement it.}}

    Verb

    (struggl)
  • To strive, to labour in difficulty, to fight (for'' or ''against ), to contend.
  • :
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 1, author=Tom Fordyce, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland , passage=England were ponderous with ball in hand, their runners static when taking the ball and their lines obvious, while their front row struggled badly in the scrum.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
  • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.}}
  • To strive, or to make efforts, with a twisting, or with contortions of the body.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
  • Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See

    trouble

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A distressful or dangerous situation.
  • A difficulty, problem, condition, or action contributing to such a situation.
  • * (John Milton)
  • Lest the fiend some new trouble raise.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
  • Foul whisperings are abroad; unnatural deeds / Do breed unnatural troubles .
  • A violent occurrence or event.
  • * , chapter=7
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=“I don't know how you and the ‘head,’ as you call him, will get on, but I do know that if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble . It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. What I won't stand is to have them togs called a livery. […]”}}
  • Efforts taken or expended, typically beyond the normal required.
  • * Bryant
  • She never took the trouble to close them.
  • *1881 , :
  • *:Indeed, by the report of our elders, this nervous preparation for old age is only trouble thrown away.
  • A malfunction.
  • Liability to punishment; conflict with authority.
  • (mining) A fault or interruption in a stratum.
  • Usage notes

    * Verbs often used with "trouble": make, spell, stir up, ask for, etc.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * ask for trouble * distrouble * double trouble * engine trouble * get into trouble * in trouble * teething troubles * trouble and strife * troubled * trouble-free * trouble in paradise * troublemaker/trouble maker * troubler * The Troubles * troubleshoot * troubleshooter * troubleshooting * troublesome * trouble spot

    See also

    * for uses and meaning of trouble collocated with these words.

    Verb

    (troubl)
  • To disturb, stir up, agitate (a medium, especially water).
  • * Bible, John v. 4
  • An angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water.
  • * Milton
  • God looking forth will trouble all his host.
  • To mentally distress; to cause (someone) to be anxious or perplexed.
  • * Bible, John xii. 27
  • Now is my soul troubled .
  • * Shakespeare
  • Take the boy to you; he so troubles me / 'Tis past enduring.
  • * John Locke
  • Never trouble yourself about those faults which age will cure.
  • In weaker sense: to bother; to annoy, pester.
  • Question 3 in the test is troubling me.
    I will not trouble you to deliver the letter.
  • To take pains to do something.
  • * 1946 , (Bertrand Russell), History of Western Philosophy , I.26:
  • Why trouble about the future? It is wholly uncertain.

    Statistics

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