- present participle of strive.
striving
Americannoun
-
the act or practice of trying hard to do, reach, or achieve something; vigorous effort.
In the striving for a just and lasting peace, ten agreements have already been reached by national and rebel forces.
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the act of fighting or struggling against someone or something; competition, opposition, or battle.
The pursuit of justice itself, or the striving against injustice, is a path to piety in Judaism.
adjective
-
trying hard; making a vigorous effort to do, reach, or achieve something.
America is the striving immigrant who starts a business or the mom who works two low-wage jobs to give her kids a better life.
-
fighting or struggling against each other.
Atonement aims at the unification of striving factions by making amends for whatever caused the trouble.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of striving
First recorded in 1225–75; striv(e) ( def. ) + -ing 1 ( def. ) for the noun senses; striv(e) ( def. ) + -ing 2 ( def. ) for the adjective senses
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Critical to the show’s success is Chris’s producer, Andie, played by Merritt Wever as the striving, harried yet competent organizer of the operation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
It is striving to begin delivering vehicles to European customers by the end of 2027.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
The “Beef” quartet — Mulligan and Oscar Isaac playing striving, bickering millennials, Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeney as their younger, equally desperate counterparts — split their submissions between lead and supporting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
“And I actually admire those types of people who can just keep pushing forward and shut the noise out and just keep going and striving towards a purpose while operating from a place of purpose.”
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
I was striving for a level of expression that matched those of the novels I read.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
