struggle for existence

American  

noun

1. the competition in nature among organisms of a population to maintain themselves in a given environment and to survive to reproduce others of their kind.

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struggle for existence British  

noun

1. (not in technical usage) competition between organisms of a population, esp as a factor in the evolution of plants and animals See also natural selection

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Etymology

Origin of struggle for existence

First recorded in 1820–30

Example Sentences

These distractions keep us from confronting reality: facilitation may be real, but so is the Darwinian struggle for existence.

From Scientific American

The improvements that have occurred certainly do not mean all is well; recent events such as the loss of Tahlequah’s calf remind us that although the overall health of Puget Sound has improved, many species still struggle for existence.

From Seattle Times

“When the struggle for existence has become so difficult, why conceive ornaments and color combinations when there are so many more practical and especially more necessary things to do?”

From New York Times

But she homed in on a vaster silence of “those whose waking hours are all struggle for existence; the barely educated; the illiterate; women. Their silence the silence of centuries as to how life was, is, for most of humanity.”

From New York Times

With this embattled worldview, Hitler led the revitalized Third Reich with the clear aim to pre-emptively and repeatedly strike at declared enemies in what he considered to be a remorseless struggle for existence.

From New York Times