struggle for existence

noun

1. the competition in nature among organisms of a population to maintain themselves in a given environment and to survive to reproduce others of their kind.

struggle for existence

noun

1. not in technical usage competition between organisms of a population, esp as a factor in the evolution of plants and animals See also natural selection

Word History and Origins

Origin of struggle for existence¹

First recorded in 1820–30

Example Sentences

It marked, further, the decay or going to pieces of his moral nature, a vain thing and a handicap in the ruthless struggle for existence.

From Literature

These distractions keep us from confronting reality: facilitation may be real, but so is the Darwinian struggle for existence.

From Scientific American

The improvements that have occurred certainly do not mean all is well; recent events such as the loss of Tahlequah’s calf remind us that although the overall health of Puget Sound has improved, many species still struggle for existence.

From Seattle Times

“When the struggle for existence has become so difficult, why conceive ornaments and color combinations when there are so many more practical and especially more necessary things to do?”

From New York Times

But she homed in on a vaster silence of “those whose waking hours are all struggle for existence; the barely educated; the illiterate; women. Their silence the silence of centuries as to how life was, is, for most of humanity.”

From New York Times