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strive

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To exert much effort or energy; endeavor.
  • intransitive verb To struggle or fight forcefully; contend.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A striving; an effort; a strife.
  • To make strenuous effort; endeavor earnestly; labor hard; do one's endeavor; try earnestly and persistently: followed by an infinitive: as, he strove hard to win the prize; to strive to excel; to strive to pay one's way.
  • To contend; straggle; battle; fight: followed by with, against, or for: as, to strive against fate; to strive for the truth.
  • To vie; contend for preëminence: with with.
  • To quarrel or contend with one another; be at variance one with another, or come to be so; be in contention, dispute, or altercation.
  • To oppose by contrariety of qualities: with with.
  • Synonyms Undertake, Endeavor, etc.(see attempt); seek, aim, toil.
  • To compete, contest.
  • To dispute, wrangle.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To make efforts; to use exertions; to endeavor with earnestness; to labor hard.
  • intransitive verb To struggle in opposition; to be in contention or dispute; to contend; to contest; -- followed by against or with before the person or thing opposed.
  • intransitive verb To vie; to compete; to be a rival.
  • noun rare An effort; a striving.
  • noun obsolete Strife; contention.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To try to achieve a result; to make strenuous effort; to try earnestly and persistently.
  • verb To struggle in opposition; to be in contention or dispute; to contend; to contest.
  • noun obsolete An effort; a striving.
  • noun obsolete strife; contention

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb attempt by employing effort
  • verb to exert much effort or energy

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English striven, from Old French estriver, from estrit, estrif, quarrel; see strife.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English striven "to strive" from Old French estriver "to compete, quarrel" from Old French estrif "quarrel, dispute", alteration (influenced by Germanic forms related to Frankish *strīban "to strive", compare Middle Dutch streven "to strive", German streben "to strive") of Old French estrit, from Frankish *strīd "quarrel, dispute" from Proto-Germanic *strīdō (“combat, strife”). Akin to Old High German strīt "quarrel" (German Streit), Old High German strītan "to fight", Old Norse strīð "strife, contention". More at stride.

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Examples

  • We must again strive to offer praise to God with the most beautiful churches and art and clothing and liturgical music we can manage.

    The Truth of Beauty 2009

  • We must again strive to offer praise to God with the most beautiful churches and art and clothing and liturgical music we can manage.

    The Truth of Beauty 2009

  • "Full unity, for which the Lord prayed and for which all His disciples must tirelessly strive, is linked to the very life and mission of the Church in the world", he said.

    Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog: 2009

  • What would be the point in strive to be a multi-millionaire if the little digital markers had no value?

    Think Progress » Woodward Reveals Important Clues About White House Smear Campaign 2005

  • What would be the point in strive to be a multi-millionaire if the little digital markers had no value?

    Think Progress » The White House Version of Success 2005

  • Nor does Froomkin strive for the kind of balance one would hope for in a political reporter.

    Splitting newsrooms and hairs « BuzzMachine 2005

  • They have taught us that the peace for which we strive is something that has to be won within and through the individual human being.

    The Nobel Peace Prize 1976 - Presentation Speech 1976

  • The setting of equality as the ideal objective, though a distant one, towards which our legislation should be directed and towards which we should strive, is in the best interest not only of the weak, the aged and the underprivileged, but it is in the interest of a strong and dynamic Canadian nation.

    Can Canada Survive The Soviet Challenge 1960

  • While most action-oriented anime titles strive to become visual spectacles, Karas stands as one of the rare few which genuinely achieves such status.

    Anime News Network 2009

  • While most action-oriented anime titles strive to become visual spectacles, Karas stands as one of the rare few which genuinely achieves such status.

    Anime News Network 2009

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