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wrestle with
wrestle with someone
to contend with someone in a physical wrestling match. You are too big to wrestle with him! I want to wrestle with someone my own size.
wrestle with something
1. . to struggle with something large to move it about. He wrestled with the piano and finally got it to move. The two men were wrestling with the heavy trunk for nearly ten minutes, trying to get it up the stairs.
2. . to grapple or struggle with some large animal. The man wrestled with the tiger for a while but was seriously mauled in a short time. Sam liked to wrestle with the family dog.
3. to struggle with a difficult problem; to struggle with a moral decision. We wrestled with the problem and finally decided to go ahead. Let me wrestle with this matter for a while longer.
wrestle with something
to work hard to do something difficult The new governor will be wrestling with the state's disastrous financial condition. These are the big issues that society will have to wrestle with. More than 200 firefighters wrestled with the blaze for more than two hours.
Etymology: based on the literal meaning of wrestle (to fight someone by trying to hold them to the ground)
wrestle with
v.1. To contend with someone by grappling and attempting to throw or immobilize one's opponent: I wrestled with my cousin in the living room until my mom ordered us to go outside.
2. To contend or struggle with something or someone: The students wrestled with the math problem all afternoon.
3. To strive in an effort to master something: The thieves must wrestle with the guilt that weighs on them.