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

Laura works 12-hour weekend night shifts as a carer in a nursing home and her husband is also in employment but, she says, the family struggles to make ends meet.

From BBC • Apr. 11, 2026

Half a decade ago, she was renting out her guesthouse to make ends meet.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026

"Fuel prices rose but fares didn't, so they're losing money," the 35-year-old told AFP outside one of Manila's ubiquitous jeepney terminals, while conceding she was struggling to make ends meet herself.

From Barron's • Mar. 24, 2026

Inflation, healthcare costs and low or no savings are pushing many retirees to go back to work, even part time in low-paying jobs, to make ends meet.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 21, 2026

Black families, often working very hard to make ends meet, wanted to clearly define which behavior was acceptable and which was not.

From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers

Related Words

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