wrestle

/ˈrɛsəl/

/ˈrɛsəl/

Other forms: wrestled; wrestles

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.

Definitions of wrestle

1. noun

   the act of engaging in close hand-to-hand combat
   “they had a fierce wrestle”

   synonyms: grapple, grappling, hand-to-hand struggle, wrestling

   type of:

   struggle

   strenuous effort
2. verb

   to move in a twisting or contorted motion, (especially when struggling)
   synonyms: squirm, twist, worm, wriggle, writhe

   types:

   wrench

   make a sudden twisting motion

   type of:

   move

   move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion
3. verb

   engage in a wrestling match
   “The children wrestled in the garden”

   types:

   mud-wrestle, mudwrestle

   wrestle in mud

   type of:

   contend, fight, struggle

   be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight
4. verb

   combat to overcome an opposing tendency or force
   “He wrestled all his life with his feeling of inferiority”

   type of:

   battle, combat

   battle or contend against in or as if in a battle
5. verb

   engage in deep thought, consideration, or debate
   “I wrestled with this decision for years”

   type of:

   consider, debate, deliberate, moot, prepend, turn over

   think about carefully; weigh