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

The surreal French film Delicatessen, cowritten and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie) and Marc Caro, points its off-kilter lens at the oddball residents of an apartment building that’s scraping by post-apocalypse. — Sara Netzley, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Sep. 2026

Freed from the high pressure’s influence, Lowell is making a dramatic right turn — swinging north to scrape by Hawaii’s western islands. — Tyler Ory, CNN Money, 6 Sep. 2026

Timid personal injury lawyer Kevin Avery (Will Forte) scrapes by on quick, low-stakes payouts, Acme tossing his clients a couple hundred bucks for their fast-healing wounds. — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2026

The front office was active as the Yankees’ offense was just scraping by against the Chicago Cubs, ahead 2-0 in the ninth inning at Wrigley Field after solo home runs from Amed Rosario and Spencer Jones. — Jayson Stark, New York Times, 1 Aug. 2026

Rhymes for scrape by

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