strive
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to exert oneself vigorously; try hard.
He strove to make himself understood.
-
to make strenuous efforts toward any goal.
to strive for success.
- Synonyms:
- toil
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to contend in opposition, battle, or any conflict; compete.
-
to struggle vigorously, as in opposition or resistance.
to strive against fate.
-
to rival; vie.
verb
-
(may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to make a great and tenacious effort
to strive to get promotion
-
(intr) to fight; contend
Synonym Usage
See try.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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strivernoun
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outstriveverb (used with object)
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interstriveverb (used without object)
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overstriveverb (used without object)
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restriveverb (used without object)
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
strivesimple
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strivessimple
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have strivedperfect
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have strivenperfect
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has strivedperfect
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has strivenperfect
-
am strivingprogressive
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are strivingprogressive
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is strivingprogressive
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have been strivingperfect progressive
-
has been strivingperfect progressive
Past
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strivedsimple
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strovesimple
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had strivedperfect
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had strivenperfect
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was strivingprogressive
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were strivingprogressive
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had been strivingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of strive
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English striven from Old French estriver “to quarrel, compete, strive” from Germanic; compare obsolete Dutch strijven, German streben “to strive”
Explanation
To strive is to endeavor, reach, or strain for something above or beyond. We strive for self-improvement, a better world, or success in general. The Old French origin of this word, estriver ("quarrel," "dispute"), had its 800th birthday not too long ago. Though it shares its roots with strife ("conflict"), it changed over the years (centuries, actually) to describe something more like a conflict with oneself, the attempt to overcome limitations and stay focused on a goal, regardless of whatever quarrels or disputes come up.
Vocabulary lists containing strive
The Watsons Go to Birmingham
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"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin
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"The Hill We Climb," by Amanda Gorman
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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.
See Examples For:
When government agencies release the latest data on inflation, employment or crop yields, they strive to make it available to everyone at once.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Most quantum companies strive to do more than build hardware; some, like IonQ, have aimed to diversify beyond the core computing business into technologies like quantum sensing.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
“The bar is set high and I’m going to strive to reach that bar and raise it even higher.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026
The university’s schools strive to offer all students a quality education, according to Ames.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
To-night I shall strive hard to sleep naturally.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
Still, he strives, with Sisyphean defiance, to break free.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
World football's governing body FIFA, responding to a question from AFP, said it "is committed to respecting all internationally recognized human rights and strives to promote the protection of these rights."
From Barron's ● May 26, 2026
"He wants us to be better, and that's exactly what I, my family, and I hope every single other person here strives to do every single day - make this world a better place."
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
A promise for what this country strives to stand for.
From Slate ● May 22, 2026
The alpha male strives to maintain social harmony within his troop.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
Gellar also praised their fans for allowing them to enjoy a very private life at home with their children, noting that they have always strived to keep their more intimate family life behind closed doors.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 4, 2026
But last July, the government said it had been informed by the US defense department that the deliveries to Switzerland would be delayed as Washington strived to provide more support for Ukraine.
From Barron's ● Apr. 1, 2026
World Rugby, the WRU and the RFU previously said that they "constantly strived to safeguard" future, current and former players.
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2026
“I have always strived to adhere to company policies and provide the very best service to my clients,” he said in a statement.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
To produce the kind of landscape effects Olmsted strived to create required not months but years, even decades.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
SKW posted losses three years in a row as the country strove to wean itself off cheap Russian energy supplies.
From Barron's ● May 3, 2026
Like Ronald Reagan and George Shultz, Cheney believed in free markets and America’s founding principles, and he strove to deflect crises that could endanger them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2025
The City of Bulawayo, led by mayor David Coltart, said Mr Moyo would be remembered as an "iconic leader ... and creative" who "strove to champion the arts" in the city and beyond.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2025
Through working with the Villa Gardens community members, Friedland strove to inject humor into the film based on what she observed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2025
“When we strove to be unselfish, humble, industrious, friendly, and ready to help others, all this was only with regard to our own people,” she said.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
He has striven to place Cohere as a sovereign alternative in both the European and Asian markets.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
Europeans have striven this year to maintain U.S. backing for Ukraine—or at least blunt a reduction in U.S. support.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 27, 2025
Under authoritarian leader and ardent nationalist Xi Jinping, the government has striven to assert China’s power in international affairs, including through culture and language.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 16, 2024
“Memorial” does for Lin’s legacy what she has striven to do in her work — invite people to consider uncomfortable truths.
From New York Times ● Jan. 26, 2023
Therefore, from the point of view of the new groups who were on the point of seizing power, human equality was no longer an ideal to be striven after, but a danger to be averted.
From "1984" by George Orwell
To children, “Spirited Away” is about a little girl striving to find a way back home, a premise as familiar as “The Wizard of Oz.”
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
Developers are striving to achieve fault tolerance by the end of the decade, which means building a machine that can run smoothly even when its individual parts fail or experience disruption.
From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026
This impressionistic novel intimately evokes the squalor, fear and fervent striving of Depression-era New York.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Stefana disagrees, he says children and young people are spending so much time and money striving towards a look, an aesthetic, that only exists in the digital world, not in reality.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
He detected the strength of the gossamer threads of affection that sometimes grew between a pair of young men or among a boatload of them striving honestly to do their best.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
