wrestle

wrestle, tussle, grapple, scuffle mean to struggle with an opponent at close quarters.

Wrestle basically implies a struggle for mastery by gripping with hands, arms, and legs, often in ways governed by fixed rules; the term connotes the exercise of skill and ingenuity as well as strength. In its extended use wrestle also implies a struggle for mastery, but it may suggest either a striving for superiority or for a particular advantage or a laborious effort (as in understanding, in seeking, or in overcoming)

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compelled to wrestle with the increasing difficulties of his office

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the perfectionist's instinct for wrestling with a problem until he had shaped it to his mental image— Kolodin

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the man who has never wrestled with his early faith . . . has missed not only a moral but an intellectual discipline— Ellis

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Tussle also suggests a struggle for mastery, but it implies determination rather than skill or ingenuity and willingness to accept the rough-and-tumble conditions of such a struggle

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the boys tussled long and hard

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tussle with a problem in mathematics

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a strong man who could tussle with evil and conquer— Caspary

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Grapple stresses the action of taking hold of or coming to grips with; the term carries a stronger implication of being in a position to gain the mastery and, usually, of a successful struggle

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grappled with his assailant, pinning one of his arms behind him

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the architect has grappled with more problems than one need hope to see solved in any single church— Henry Adams

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it has been mainly the academicians who have attempted to grapple with the . . . intricacies of Joyce's mysticism of the flesh— Mailer

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Scuffle may imply brief, confused, usually not very serious fighting involving much scrambling and noise

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boys scuffled with each other in the schoolyard

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It may suggest hurry or superficiality in overcoming difficulties

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you go to school and scuffle on the best way you can— Runciman

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Analogous words: *contend, fight, battle, war: *resist, withstand, combat, oppose: strive, endeavor, essay (see ATTEMPT): labor, toil, travail (see corresponding nouns at WORK) wretched *miserable

Analogous words: *despondent, forlorn, hopeless, despairing: doleful, dolorous, *melancholy: abject, sordid, *mean: pitiable, piteous, *pitiful wring vb *wrench, wrest

Analogous words: *press, squeeze: *crush, mash, smash, bruise: extract, extort, elicit (see EDUCE): distort, contort (see DEFORM): twist, bend (see CURVE)