eke out
Britishverb
-
to make (a supply) last, esp by frugal use
they eked out what little food was left
-
to support (existence) with difficulty and effort
-
to add to (something insufficient), esp with effort
to eke out an income with evening work
-
Supplement, make last, as in The survivors eked out their food and water until they were rescued . [Late 1500s]
-
Get with great difficulty or effort, as in The soil was terrible but they managed to eke out a living by rotating crops . [Early 1800s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Calls for steps to stimulate domestic consumption went largely unanswered as a surge in exports helped it to eke out sufficient growth to meet its official target for the year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Tesla is expected to eke out some growth in 2026, selling about 1.7 million cars.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
I still think Scotland will eke out the win, but how will Steve Clarke go about it?
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
“Euphoria” “Despite grim reviews for its latest season, ‘Euphoria’ will still eke out a nomination because Zendaya can do no wrong.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
What this technique does is eke out as many as possible of the sympathetic resonances, or harmonics, latent in the reverberating strings, thus imitating the natural harmonics found in plucked strings and struck metal bars.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
