make ends meet

Cultural  

1. To earn enough income to provide for basic needs: “The workers complained that on their present wages they could hardly make ends meet, let alone enjoy any luxuries.”

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make ends meet Idioms  

1. Manage so that one's financial means are enough for one's needs, as in On that salary Enid had trouble making ends meet. This expression originated as make both ends meet, a translation from the French joindre les deux bouts (by John Clarke, 1639). The ends, it is assumed, allude to the sum total of income and expenditures. However, naval surgeon and novelist Tobias Smollett had it as “make the two ends of the year meet” (Roderick Random, 1748), thought to go back to the common practice of splicing rope ends together in order to cut shipboard expenses.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

make ends meet

The hospital has already taken a series of major steps to make ends meet, according to Dr. Elaine Batchlor, its chief executive.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026

The number of people who have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet reached 9.4 million in November 2025, the highest level since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking that indicator in 1994.

From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026

Families are skipping meals to make ends meet during the school holidays, a charity has warned.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

A few years ago, he was flipping burgers in L.A., working at Starbucks, and taking whatever jobs he could find in the film or TV industry to make ends meet.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

Many of the girls in Troop 11 were from working-class, even poor, families— children of domestic servants, crab pickers, laborers—whose parents spent most of their waking hours trying to make ends meet.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

Related Words

• collect
• conserve
• keep
• maintain
• manage
• spare
• store