make ends meet

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.”

Idioms and Phrases

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

Although economists say migration tends to improve the overall economy, it can sow fear among those struggling to make ends meet in low-wage jobs.

From Los Angeles Times

These brand-new developments were flooded with folks working from home, wanting to live near nature, and just trying to make ends meet.

From Slate

So many people who voted for Donald Trump told me again and again that they felt the economy was much better when he was in office and they were sick of trying to make ends meet.

From BBC

They spent hours talking about her background, including her upbringing in a working-class Polish American family where money was so tight, she turned to modeling as a teenager to help her parents make ends meet.

From Los Angeles Times

"I just about make ends meet, but it isn't easy and I do sometimes have to ask for help," she says.

From BBC

Related Words

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