scrape by
phrasal verb·1 sense·particle by
Meanings
Manage to live with great difficulty on minimal resources
Why “by”? BY means you have just enough to keep going. It is not a lot, but it reaches the line you need.
“Many families scrape by on benefits.”
“The students scraped by on 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
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