scrape by

phrasal verb

scraped by; scraping by; scrapes by

: to live with barely enough money : to be able to buy only the things most needed

Money was tight, but we somehow managed to scrape by.

: to succeed at doing something but just barely

He didn't study for the exam and just barely scraped by.

Examples of scrape by in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Facing a long road to recovery after Hurricane Helene, Asheville musicians fret about scraping by until crowds can come back. —

Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 16 Oct. 2024 Aldo has been forced to leave behind his home, his wife, and his newborn son to scrape by with low-paying jobs in Turin. —

Anna Marie De La Fuente, Variety, 30 Aug. 2024 The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party (AfD) has just fallen short of clinching its second state victory in a month, with the ruling Social Democrats (SPD) scraping by on a few points. —

Frey Lindsay, Forbes, 23 Sep. 2024 The show revolves around Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott), a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York, who is hired by a wealthy man to travel to Italy to try to convince his vagabond son to return home. —

Destiny Jackson, Deadline, 15 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for scrape by

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'scrape by.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.