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

She and her husband had moved in with their in-laws because all four of them are disabled and it was easier to care for one another and make ends meet being in one household.

From Salon • Apr. 19, 2026

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

"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

Some drove for a ride-share app in the evenings, to make ends meet in a country of widespread deprivation.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

Nathan wondered how many people had been in their same position, pawning everything they had to make ends meet.

From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young

Related Words

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