scrape by

verb

scraped by; scraping by; scrapes by

1

: 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.

2

: 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

Owning a home was, in Seymour’s view, the ticket from just scraping by, or even living on the streets, to financial stability. —Andre Mouchard, Sacbee.com, 22 Apr. 2026

For my young family scraping by month to month, these benefits felt like real help. —Torrey Snow, Baltimore Sun, 15 Apr. 2026

Deploying some zone defense, Denver scraped by for five minutes, outscoring the Warriors by two before subbing Jokic and Watson back in together. —Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 30 Mar. 2026

The kitchen and bathrooms were fully renovated, the original wide-plank floors throughout were scraped by hand, and windows overlooking the rear garden were expanded, flooding the breakfast room with natural light. —David Foxley, Architectural Digest, 25 Feb. 2026

Rhymes for scrape by

• abscissae
• alibi
• alkali
• alumni
• amoebae
• amplify
• annuli
• beautify
• brachii
• butterfly
• calculi
• certify