scrape by
Học thuậtThân thiện
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
- manage one's existence barely
- I guess I can squeeze by on this lousy salary