Meaning of make ends meet | Babel Free

Definitions

To have enough money to cover expenses; to get by financially; to get through the pay period (sufficient to meet the next payday).

idiomatic

Equivalents

Examples

“... a schoolmaster, whose income being small, he was fain to keep a glass of good liquor for the entertainment of passengers, by which he made shift to make the two ends of the year meet.”

“Although most of the poor and displaced in Khartoum struggle to make ends meet, a very small number not only find work, but form small co-operatives.”

“'Cause it's a bitter sweet symphony that's life / Trying to make ends meet, you're a slave to money then you die”

“Very many Londoners reported to us that they were struggling to make ends meet; that it was a constant battle to keep their heads above water, or that they had only just got into the position of being able to breathe freely.”

“Barclays, which until now has made ends meet with costly loans from the Middle East rather than take public money, may soon join the queue for the emergency medicine too.”

“Investigators discover that Captain Ospina was forced to take a second job, moonlighting in a bar, in order to make ends meet for his family.”

“TSSA General Secretary Manuel Cortes was typically forthright in his criticism by claiming that Sunak had "blatantly failed" to cure "a growing tragedy", as "every single day, more and more families can't make ends meet".”

CEFR level