wrestle

CEFRB2

/ˈɹɛsl̩/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To fight by holding and throwing another person.

  2. 02

    verb

    To struggle to deal with a difficult problem.

Examples

  • Mary watched the boys wrestle playfully in the backyard.

  • Do you want to arm wrestle?

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • /ˈɹɛs(ə)l/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. Sometimes followed by down: to contend with or move (someone) into or out of a position by grappling; also, to overcome (someone) by grappling.

  2. To move or manipulate (something) using physical effort, usually with some difficulty or opposition.

  3. To take part in (a wrestling bout or match).

More examples

In context

  • I couldn't wrestle the trunk down the hall.

  • You wanna arm wrestle?

  • Hark thee, friend, […] wilt thou wrestle a fall with me?

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

In the wrestling championship, he will blank his opponent for the title.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

The verb is derived from Middle English wrestlen, wrastlen (“to engage in grappling combat or sport, struggle, wrestle; to twist and turn, squirm, wriggle, writhe; (figurative) to contend, grapple with, struggle”), from Old English wrǣstlian (“to wrestle”), a frequentative form of wrǣstan (“to twist, wrest”), from Proto-Germanic *wraistijaną (“to turn; to twist, wrest”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to twist”). By surface analysis, wrest + -le (frequentative suffix). Probably related to wraxle (UK, dialectal, archaic). The noun is derived from the verb. cognates * Middle Dutch worstelen, wrastelen (“to wrestle”) (modern Dutch worstelen) * Middle Low German wrostelen (“to wr...