strive

English

Etymology

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 strijven "to strive", German streben "to strive") of Old French estrit, of Germanic origin, 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.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈstɻaɪv/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪv

Verb

strive (third-person singular simple present strives, present participle striving, simple past strove or strived, past participle striven or strived)

1. To try to achieve a result; to make strenuous effort; to try earnestly and persistently.

   He strove to excel.

2. To struggle in opposition; to be in contention or dispute; to contend; to contest.

   to strive against fate

   to strive for the truth

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
• The strong or irregular forms "strove" and "striven" are more commonly used in print than "strived".

Translations

to try to achieve

American Sign Language: S@NearInsideChesthigh-PalmAcross-S@NearInsideChesthigh-PalmAcross S@InsideChesthigh-PalmDown-S@InsideChesthigh-PalmDown Arabic: كافح (ar) (kāfaHa), اجتهد (ar) (iHtahada), ناضل (ar) (nāDala), حرص (ar) (HáraSa), جد (ar) (jádda) Chinese: Mandarin: 努力 (cmn) (nǔlì), 奮鬥 (cmn), 奋斗 (cmn) (fèndòu), 殫力 (cmn), 殚力 (cmn) (dānlì), 力圖 (cmn), 力图 (cmn) (lìtú), 掙 (cmn), 挣 (cmn) (zhèng) Czech: usilovat (cs) Dutch: streven (nl) Esperanto: strebi (eo) Finnish: pyrkiä (fi), ponnistella (fi), yrittää (fi) French: s'efforcer (fr) German: streben (de)

Indonesian: berjuang, memperjuangkan, bersusah payah Italian: sforzarsi (it) Japanese: 努力する (どりょくする, doryoku-suru), 闘う (たたかう, tatakau), 努める (ja) (つとめる, tsutomeru), 奮闘する (ja) (ふんとうする, funtō-suru) Kurdish: تێکۆشان Norwegian: streve (no) Polish: starać się (pl) Portuguese: esforçar-se, batalhar por algo Russian: стремиться (ru) (stremít'sja), стараться (ru) (starát'sja), бороться (ru) (borót'sja), прилагать усилия (ru) (prilagát' usílija) Slovene: stremeti, prizadevati si Spanish: esforzarse (es) Telugu: కష్టించు (kashTiMchu), కృషి చేయు (krushi cEyu)

to struggle in opposition

Finnish: taistella (fi), kamppailla (fi)

External links

• strive in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• strive in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• rivets
• stiver