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 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 As Americans are barely getting by because of inflation, tariffs, and a cost-of-living crisis, saving for retirement can feel like the priority lowest on the totem pole. — Sydney Lake, Fortune, 31 Mar. 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

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
For fall camp, that entails getting on the same page with his weapons and offensive line and furthering his connection with offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy.

— Aaron Heisen, Daily News, 5 Aug. 2026

Definition of getting on

Verb

Alvin Kan, chief operating officer of Bitget Wallet, said on the On The Margin podcast that freelancers and remote workers already treat a self-custody crypto wallet as a place to keep working capital, and that the share doing so is growing.

— Boaz Sobrado, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026
At times, he was seen doing stretches, eating food, peering out the windows with binoculars and listening to music with headphones.

— Dean Fioresi, CBS News, 7 Aug. 2026

Definition of doing

Verb

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
On July 1, Rodriguez and Hayden were spotted making out at Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin’s White Party, one month after his split from Jaclyn Cordeiro.

— Natasha Dye, PEOPLE, 28 July 2026

Definition of making out

Verb

The Raiders are managing a knee ailment that caused McCoy to drop to the fourth round in April’s NFL Draft.

— Sam Warren, New York Times, 7 Aug. 2026
Katsis was adept at managing major live acts, overseeing rollouts like Backstreet Boys’ Into the Millennium Tour and helping morph Korn and Limp Bizkit into perennial arena acts.

— Ethan Millman, HollywoodReporter, 6 Aug. 2026