Definition

Verb (phrasal verb): * To manage to live or survive with great difficulty, typically with barely enough money or resources. It implies a minimal, often precarious, existence.

Usage

This phrasal verb is used to describe a situation where someone just barely meets their basic needs, such as paying for food, rent, and bills. It often carries a tone of struggle and financial hardship. It is intransitive and does not take a direct object.

Examples

• Basic Usage:
  • After losing his job, he had to scrape by on his savings for a few months.
  • Many families in the area scrape by on very low incomes.
• With Adverbial Information:
  • They scrape by month to month, with nothing left to save.
  • She scraped by in college by working two part-time jobs.

Advanced Usage

• "scrape by on (something)": This is the most common construction, specifying the meager resource (money, salary, pension) used to survive.
  • How can anyone be expected to scrape by on such a small pension?
• "scrape by doing (something)": Specifies the activity that allows for bare survival.
  • He scrapes by doing odd jobs around the neighborhood.

Variants and Related Words

• Scrape (verb): The base verb can mean to manage to obtain or achieve something with difficulty (e.g., , ).
• Get by (phrasal verb): A close synonym, though it can sometimes imply slightly less difficulty than "scrape by."
• Make ends meet (idiom): To have just enough money to pay for one's basic expenses.

Synonyms

• Get by
• Survive
• Make ends meet
• Manage (barely)
• Eke out a living

Related Idioms

• Live hand to mouth: To spend all the money one earns on basic needs, with nothing left for savings or luxuries. This is a very close idiom to "scrape by."
  • For years, they lived hand to mouth, just scraping by.

Verb

1. manage one's existence barely
   • I guess I can squeeze by on this lousy salary