wrestle
Americanverb (used without object)
-
wrestles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wrestled,
past participle, past
-
wrestling
present participle
-
to engage in wrestling.
-
to contend, as in a struggle for mastery; grapple.
to wrestle with one's conscience.
verb (used with object)
-
wrestles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wrestled,
past participle, past
-
wrestling
present participle
-
to contend with in wrestling.
-
to force by or as if by wrestling.
-
to throw (a calf or other animal) for branding.
noun
-
wrestles
plural
-
an act of or a bout at wrestling.
-
a struggle.
verb
-
to fight (another person) by holding, throwing, etc, without punching with the closed fist
-
(intr) to participate in wrestling
-
to fight with (a person, problem, or thing)
wrestle with one's conscience
-
(tr) to move laboriously, as with wrestling movements
-
(tr) to throw (an animal) for branding
noun
-
the act of wrestling
-
a struggle or tussle
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
wrestlesimple
-
wrestlessimple
-
have wrestledperfect
-
has wrestledperfect
-
am wrestlingprogressive
-
are wrestlingprogressive
-
is wrestlingprogressive
-
have been wrestlingperfect progressive
-
has been wrestlingperfect progressive
Past
-
wrestledsimple
-
had wrestledperfect
-
was wrestlingprogressive
-
were wrestlingprogressive
-
had been wrestlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wrestle
before 1100; Middle English wrestlen, wrastlen (v.), Old English *wrǣstlian (compare Old English wrǣstlere wrestler), frequentative of wrǣstan to wrest; cognate with Middle Dutch, Middle Low German worstelen
Explanation
If you decide to wrestle on a team in high school, you'll be grabbing your opponent and trying to fling him to the ground while he tries to do the same to you. You might want to consider the ping pong team instead. Athletes wrestle wearing uniforms and helmets, and they follow very specific rules. Others wrestle more spontaneously — a bar bouncer might have to wrestle with an unruly patron, or a parent might need to wrestle a squirming toddler into her car seat. Yet another way to wrestle is with an idea or a problem, a kind of mental struggle. The Old English root, wræstan, means "to wrest," or to yank something out of another person's grasp.
Vocabulary lists containing wrestle
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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:
All you can do is wrestle back to the light.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
Even as consumers wrestle with higher costs of living, a report from Circana in February found that store-brand momentum had stretched “beyond inflationary periods,” after price increases eased briefly last year.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
Even as the White House embraces AI as an engine of “human flourishing,” the administration continues to wrestle with the potential spiritual consequences of advanced machines that approximate human consciousness and often exceed human capabilities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
They’re the responsible adults now, watching Gen Z characters that wrestle with generation-specific problems in ways that look confusing from the outside.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026
“People were cool. And there was always enough floating to the cauldron top that I never had to wrestle or worry about a wheel not being done enough.”
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
The aspect that he says he wrestles with is how much higher rates would harm the economy.
From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026
After decades as Europe’s manufacturing engine, the country is mired in its longest stretch of stagnation since World War II as it wrestles with competition from China and a slump in demand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026
In one scene in Glenrothan, he rugby tackles Alan Cumming's Donal to the ground and wrestles him.
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026
Jason Parham: A major theme in the film wrestles with what it means to find your place at home when you return.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 27, 2026
He wrestles it to the ground and lets it go again.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
He was having "weird feelings" in his hand for a while but wrestled through the pain - until May last year when it got worse.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
Firefighters wrestled "numerous flare-ups" under control overnight, working in very difficult conditions as powerful winds buffeted the eastern region bordering Germany -- with a "mini-tornado" even striking a town outside the park.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
They’d say there were times when he was away — I wrestled with that — but they would say yeah.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
For decades, physicists have wrestled with one of the deepest puzzles in modern science: the "black hole information paradox."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026
King wrestled with his conscience: were these legitimate reasons to remain silent?
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
Tsarukyan, as he had done for much of his career, sought to use his wrestling skills to change the pace of the fight.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
But the question of how much the public deserves—or needs—to know about unexpected behavior by AI models is only getting louder, and companies are wrestling with how and when to disclose safety incidents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Eva hopes to study performing arts after leaving school, which she believes could help develop the character and performance side of her wrestling.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
Companies are wrestling with how and when to disclose instances of security breaches and model misbehavior, amid a steady drumbeat of such incidents and rising fears over out-of-control AI.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Turning, he saw that it had gotten into a fierce wrestling match with a dirty sock.
From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville
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.
