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

He argued that it fed the dream that it could lead to greater riches for a population that is often battling to make ends meet.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

For L.A. renters struggling to make ends meet, a move to one of those cities could set them up for better lives, said Zillow’s Chief Economist Mischa Fisher.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Intensive farming practices themselves contribute to climate change, and farmland is increasingly being abandoned by producers who cannot make ends meet or survive harvests lost to extreme weather.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

Families that are already struggling to make ends meet may have little room to sacrifice income.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026

Many a woman, white or black, waving to her husband as the trains of soldiers pulled out of the station, harbored anxiety alongside her sadness and pride, worried about how to make ends meet.

From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield

Related Words

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