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Synonyms

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.”

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.

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.

To make ends meet, St. Michael’s dug into its roughly $90 million endowment.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

In Kolding, 42-year-old Afghan Wahida Abdul Mutaleb admitted she's struggling to make ends meet.

From Barron's • Mar. 19, 2026

When her Sevens contract was scrapped in 2020 as part of Covid cost-cutting measures, Jones worked as a delivery driver to make ends meet.

From BBC • Mar. 19, 2026

The prospect of higher Medicare Part B premiums comes as many older adults already struggle to make ends meet.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 16, 2026

My family was happy for them, though worried about how we were going to make ends meet.

From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez

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.