wrestle
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to engage in wrestling.
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to contend, as in a struggle for mastery; grapple.
to wrestle with one's conscience.
verb (used with object)
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to contend with in wrestling.
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to force by or as if by wrestling.
-
to throw (a calf or other animal) for branding.
noun
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an act of or a bout at wrestling.
-
a struggle.
verb
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to fight (another person) by holding, throwing, etc, without punching with the closed fist
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(intr) to participate in wrestling
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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
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
have wrestledperfect
-
has wrestledperfect 3rd person singular
-
has been wrestlingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
-
am wrestlingprogressive 1st person singular
-
is wrestlingprogressive 3rd person singular
-
are wrestlingprogressive
-
have been wrestlingperfect progressive
-
wrestlessingular 3rd person
-
wrestlingparticiple
Past
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had wrestledperfect
-
was wrestlingprogressive singular
-
had been wrestlingperfect progressive
-
were wrestlingprogressive plural
-
wrestledparticiple
-
wrestledsimple
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.
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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.
