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 squeeze is hitting a population already struggling to make ends meet.

From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026

Six months ago, the 65-year-old doctor and former Venezuelan opposition lawmaker was caring for elderly people in Spain to make ends meet.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026

Employees there told us they struggled to make ends meet and worked on up to 700 items a day as part of a production line.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

To make ends meet, he has turned to online resale.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

I try to explain that Mam has the disease and I’m worn out trying to make ends meet, keeping the home fires burning, getting lemonade for Mam and bread for my brothers.

From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt

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Related Words

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

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