do without

verb

1. to forgo; manage without

   I can't do without cigarettes

2. not to require (uncalled-for comments or advice)

   we can do without your criticisms thank you

Idioms and Phrases

Manage in spite of being without something. For example, They will just have to do without a vacation this year, or There was no telephone in the cabin, but we soon learned to do without. [Early 1700s]

Example Sentences

She was not in the habit of powdering, and she thought she could do without teatime so long as she had eaten a proper lunch.

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He can’t board a train or do anything else ordinary people do without generating a perimeter of chaos.

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"The second thing I'd say is that this strike action causes untold misery and disruption to patients who could do without it," the health secretary said.

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Chatbots can do without humans in the loop.

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Though ideological conformity has corrupted many of these departments, higher education can’t do without them.

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Related Words

• endure 
• forgo