GETTING BY Synonyms: 35 Similar and Opposite Words

getting by

verb

present participle of get by

as in coping

to meet one's day-to-day needs working at night paid my college tuition and enabled me to get by—but just barely

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of getting by That free ticket, obtained by getting by hitting two of six numbers on a previous drawing, is now worth $6 million. — David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 6 Aug. 2026 That is not the performance of a team getting by on heart. — Sylvana Quader Sinha, Forbes.com, 23 June 2026 Mexico passed its opening test with flying colors, getting by South Africa 2-0. — Dan Santaromita, New York Times, 18 June 2026 Two lanes of traffic are now getting by after the multi-vehicle crash. — Laura Fay, CBS News, 17 June 2026 Even with two incomes, the family is just getting by. — Andrea Hsu, NPR, 16 June 2026 Federal employees are guaranteed to receive back pay once the shutdown ends, according to a 2019 law, but getting by until then can be hard. — Tami Luhby, CNN Money, 22 Apr. 2026 Millman, his wife and their teenage daughter are barely getting by on his two part-time jobs, one bagging groceries, the other helping homebound seniors. — Noam N. Levey, Hartford Courant, 20 Apr. 2026 Their relationship enters a dramatic new phase when the latter — also single, barely getting by with ambitions to become a writer — gets pregnant after sleeping with her married professor and decides to keep the baby. — David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 3 Apr. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for getting by

Verb

The film follows the two boys from that abuse in the summer of 1981 through a decade later, tracking two very different coping mechanisms.

— Joshua Encinias, IndieWire, 10 Aug. 2026
Since their father’s diagnosis, Tallulah Willis and her sisters have occasionally shared updates on his condition and how the family is coping.

— Martha Ross, Mercury News, 10 Aug. 2026

Definition of coping

Verb

The forum also featured attorneys Ronette McCarthy and Tyler Smith, who walked the audience through the technical process of getting on the ballot in various municipalities and in the state in general.

— Hank Beckman, Chicago Tribune, 14 Aug. 2026
Wilde thanked producer Megan Ellison at Annapurna for getting on board with her desire to get the film into cinemas, and agreeing to accept A24‘s theatrical offer, hinting that the streamers had gone higher.

— Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 8 Aug. 2026

Definition of getting on

Verb

On the night of the Sex Purge, the streets are flooded with attractive, thin, largely heterosexual couples making out all over the place.

— Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2026
This surge is driven by state funding compacts and a commitment to growing California undergraduate enrollment, making out-of-state admission increasingly competitive.

— Christopher Rim, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2026

Definition of making out

Verb

Mourinho’s first game back at the Bernabeu should be box-office given the divisions his last spell in charge from 2010 to 2013 caused at Madrid — and his behaviour when managing Benfica against Madrid in the Champions League last year.

— Dermot Corrigan, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2026
Yet Schore makes a compelling case that the greatest opportunity for reclaiming time isn't found by reorganizing schedules but by managing the internal conversations that quietly consume them.

— Rodger Dean Duncan, Forbes.com, 13 Aug. 2026