How to Use eke in a Sentence

eke

verb
  • These teams always play close games, and Cleveland will eke this one out.
    — Brian Wacker, Baltimore Sun, 6 Sep. 2023
  • They're made with waterproof suede and fully sealed, so no stray snowflakes or water can eke in.
    — Lindsey Vickers, USA TODAY, 30 Nov. 2020
  • So Gilmer looks for ways to eke more power out of the lines where congestion is a big problem.
    — Gregory Barber, Wired, 8 Dec. 2021
  • The Iranian regime will seek to eke it out and wear America down.
    — The Week Uk, TheWeek, 7 Mar. 2026
  • Shadow, taking this in, lets a sense of astonishment eke out from behind his cool, steely gaze.
    — Eric Farwell, GQ, 1 May 2017
  • Most record-breakers eke ahead of previous record-holders by fractions of a second.
    — Breanna Draxler, Discover Magazine, 15 Nov. 2013
  • To try to eke some life out of their systems, Surface Pro 4 users were going to extreme lengths.
    — Peter Bright, Ars Technica, 11 May 2018
  • This handle allows anglers to execute precise quarter and half-turns to eke every bit of life out of their oversized lures.
    — Pete Robbins, Field & Stream, 20 Mar. 2023
  • To eke out a profit, Valerian needs to gross at least $400 million.
    — Chris Lee, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 July 2017
  • The Dodgers eked across a run in the third on a Freddie Freeman groundout with runners on second and third.
    — Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 2 June 2026
  • In the late game, Colombia eked past DR Congo to ensure a spot in the knockout rounds.
    — Chris Branch, New York Times, 24 June 2026
  • Even if a couple particles eke past every hurdle, their ranks are fewer, weaker, and less damaging.
    — Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 26 July 2021
  • For the billion dollars spent in the refit, the Navy will probably eke one—maybe two—deployments out of the vessel.
    — Craig Hooper, Forbes, 14 Feb. 2023
  • Threads could be a way for Meta to eke additional engagement time out of its massive existing user base.
    — Clare Duffy, CNN, 19 July 2023
  • Those early pioneers figured out how to harness water to eke a living out of the inhospitable, arid West.
    — Leia Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 10 Apr. 2022
  • One way that the duo was able to eke even more performance out of the One was to ignore the UCI’s pesky rulebook.
    — Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 19 Mar. 2026
  • Just as optimism began to eke its way into the minds of corporate leaders, a wave of uncertainty reared its ugly head.
    — Brian Peccarelli, Forbes, 3 Jan. 2022
  • Moon — a man with deep emotional and intellectual connections to the North — to eke the goods out of Kim.
    — Charlie Campbell / Beijing, Time, 7 Mar. 2018
  • Even in the non super-low cost market, European carriers are once again looking to eke out their own territory.
    — Fox News, 9 June 2017
  • Scherzinger, in waist-enhancing blue gown, eked every ounce of drama from the song, prompting Lang Lang to rush over and take a bow with her at the end of the catwalk.
    — Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY, 7 May 2023
  • In the nightcap, the Indians scored four times in the ninth, capped by a Nick Swisher solo home run, to eke out a 9-8 win.
    — cleveland.com, 27 June 2017
  • An out of tune vehicle might cause the driver to overestimate the car’s ability to get through an intersection or eke past a semi-truck on a two-lane highway.
    — Jennifer Alsever, Fortune, 8 Dec. 2019
  • Where once Milanello, the club’s training facility, was famous for its ability to eke a few more years out of aging stars, the focus is now on youth.
    — Rory Smith, New York Times, 8 May 2023
  • The Leafs have been eking by without two top-four defenders, Chris Tanev and Brandon Carlo.
    — Jonas Siegel, New York Times, 14 Dec. 2025
  • Prices on Apple products have generally crept as the company tries to eke more money out of a relatively stagnant user base.
    — Mike Murphy, Quartz, 3 June 2019
  • That’s because the Giants have helped them out by resembling a cable car forever eking up one of San Francisco’s large hills.
    — Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Aug. 2025
  • In the second match of the day, France eked past Paraguay, with the South Americans providing a tough test for one of the tournament favorites.
    — Patrick Sung Cuadrado, CNN Money, 4 July 2026
  • A little boost can add a lot of power and efficiency, too, making a turbocharger a great solution to eke maximum performance out of today’s engines.
    — ArsTechnica, 27 Oct. 2025
  • Currently, a family of that size has to be eking by on $33,000 a year to qualify as poor in the federal government’s eyes.
    — Olivier Sterck, The Conversation, 6 Mar. 2026
  • In film, the few black stories that eke through are set firmly in reality — though not always in the present, and often with the struggle of slaves, their immediate descendants, or their distant successors.
    — Michelle Ofiwe, Esquire, 10 Nov. 2016

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'eke.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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