struggling

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
struggle/ˈstrʌɡl/

▶verb

• 1 make forceful efforts to get free.

• 2 strive under difficult circumstances to do something.

  ■ have difficulty in gaining recognition or a living.

• 3 contend or compete.

• 4 make one's way with difficulty.

▶noun

• 1 an act of struggling.

• 2 a very difficult task.

– derivatives
struggler noun.

– origin ME: frequentative, perh. of imitative origin.