as in sparse
less plentiful than what is normal, necessary, or desirable
survived on a hand-to-mouth income that came from any odd job that he could find
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Recent Examples of hand-to-mouth
At the center of the story is a jazz musician called Y, a bohemian, artsy type who is fed up with his hand-to-mouth existence and so agrees to a lucrative commission, writing an upbeat song to inspire national pride in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks that took place on October 7, 2023.
—
Damon Wise, Deadline, 8 July 2025
Compounded by the launch of the first Movistar Plus+ series in 2017, and the later arrival of other global streamers, Spain has finally emerged from its hand-to-mouth past.
—John Hopewell, Variety, 16 June 2025
Even the champions predominantly lived hand-to-mouth.
—Frederick Dreier, Outside Online, 11 June 2025
That ecstatic communal experience is a glorious moment of freedom for oppressed people, most of them living hand-to-mouth in an environment of hatred and exploitation.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 10 Apr. 2025
Both dropped out of college and essentially lived hand-to-mouth in order to pursue their musical dreams.
—Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Jan. 2025
Worse, the company is living hand-to-mouth because of the minuscule revenues, large negative earnings, and high cash outflow.
—John S. Tobey, Forbes, 21 Dec. 2024
The brand recommends using them in tandem with NRTs to satiate the hand-to-mouth habit of vaping.
—Lina Abascal, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2024
Teach your children how to avoid hand-to-mouth behaviors.
—Steffini Stalos, Verywell Health, 3 Oct. 2024
Damon Wise, Deadline, 8 July 2025
Compounded by the launch of the first Movistar Plus+ series in 2017, and the later arrival of other global streamers, Spain has finally emerged from its hand-to-mouth past.
—John Hopewell, Variety, 16 June 2025
Even the champions predominantly lived hand-to-mouth.
—Frederick Dreier, Outside Online, 11 June 2025
That ecstatic communal experience is a glorious moment of freedom for oppressed people, most of them living hand-to-mouth in an environment of hatred and exploitation.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 10 Apr. 2025
Both dropped out of college and essentially lived hand-to-mouth in order to pursue their musical dreams.
—Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Jan. 2025
Worse, the company is living hand-to-mouth because of the minuscule revenues, large negative earnings, and high cash outflow.
—John S. Tobey, Forbes, 21 Dec. 2024
The brand recommends using them in tandem with NRTs to satiate the hand-to-mouth habit of vaping.
—Lina Abascal, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2024
Teach your children how to avoid hand-to-mouth behaviors.
—Steffini Stalos, Verywell Health, 3 Oct. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hand-to-mouth
Adjective
-
Model Drift and Fraud Patterns Require Human Feedback In fraud detection, patterns evolve quickly and data remains sparse.—
Christer Holloman,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
-
The floors will be reclaimed plastic and concrete, and the equipment in the hospital will be sparse, as there are no monitors available, Hawash-Kuemmerle said.—
Natalie Davies,
Freep.com,
10 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Treat storage as a scarce public good.—
Phil De Luna,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
-
Water is scarce, rationed to just three hours a day in some districts, and packs of stray dogs roam the city.—
Yegor Mostovshikov,
The Dial,
9 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Cutting carbs entirely can raise the risk of cholesterol, kidney stones, poor bone health, gut problems, and even cancer, added Stefanki.—
Caitlin Pagán,
Verywell Health,
11 Sep. 2025
-
Before Wednesday’s game, people within the organization were optimistic about Helsley putting his tipping problem and overall poor pitching behind him, pointing to a clean inning Monday.—
Will Sammon,
New York Times,
11 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hand-to-mouth.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hand-to-mouth. Accessed 13 Sep. 2025.
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