scrape by

phrasal verb·1 sense·particle by

Usefulness

Meanings

1

Manage to live with great difficulty on minimal resources

Just Enoughinformal

Why “by”? BY means you have just enough to manage. It is not a lot, but it meets the basic need.

“Many families scrape by on benefits.”
Many families just barely manage on benefits.
“The students scraped by on cheap noodles.”
The students barely managed with cheap noodles.

Don't confuse with

scrape byscrape through

Scrape by means manage to live with great difficulty on minimal resources. Scrape through means just barely succeed at an exam or task.

Test yourself

“Many families scrape by on benefits.” What does it mean?

Nearby in the meaning map

Sink In connects verbs by particle pattern, contrast pairs, and shared base verbs.

scrape through

A contrast learners often mix up

Just barely succeed at an exam or task

get by

Same by pattern: just enough

Manage to live or cope with just enough resources

scrape off

Same base verb: scrape

Remove by scraping with an edge

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