eke out

verb

eked out; eking out; ekes out

transitive verb

1

: to make up for the deficiencies of : supplement

eked out his income by getting a second job

2

: to make (a supply) last by economy

Examples of eke out in a Sentence

eked out a living from the family's small farm

Recent Examples on the Web

And while many of these popular anchors are getting notice quickly, there is concern about whether all of them can eke out success. —Brian Steinberg, Variety, 4 Aug. 2025

Young adults are staying with parents to save money or opting to house swap with baby boomer relatives to eke out a start in the housing market. —Sydney Lake, Fortune, 9 July 2025

This week: Oasis’ tour kickoff and Ozzy Osbourne’s live farewell both result in huge streams and sales surges, Toby Keith’s anthem takes over Miley Cyrus’ for the biggest Fourth of July gainer, Beyoncé ekes out one more moment of Cowboy Carter virality and more. —Jason Lipshutz, Billboard, 9 July 2025

Only Borderlands 3 showed comparable performance across both operating systems, with Windows eking out ever-so-slightly higher frame rates in that game's benchmarks. —ArsTechnica, 25 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1596, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for eke out

• roundabout
• runabout
• sauerkraut
• thereabout
• turnabout
• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout

Kids Definition

eke out

verb

ˈēk-

1

a

: supplement entry 2

eked out their small income by working for neighbors

b

: to make (a supply) last by careful use

2

: to get with great difficulty

eked out a living from the poor soil of the family's farm