scrape by

phrasal 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

The creator economy, valued at over $250 billion and projected to hit $480 billion by 2027, is booming, but most creators are barely scraping by. —Tomer Warschauer Nuni, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2025

In her twenties, already scraping by, she was forced to take a pay cut that shrunk her salary to just $34,000 a year. —Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 29 July 2025

While some local associations boast thousands of members and six-figure reserves, smaller affiliates scrape by. —Jeremy Gosnell, Baltimore Sun, 20 July 2025

Several victims had emptied their retirement funds to invest with Mattson, and were left to fend for themselves with little money left to scrape by. —Kyle Martin, Mercury News, 7 June 2025

Rhymes for scrape by

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