How to Use get by in a Sentence

get by

verb
  • There's not a frame that gets by him.
    — Erin Clack, PEOPLE, 19 Jan. 2026
  • Some can get by on five hours of sleep; some can’t.
    — Rolling Stone Culture Council, Rolling Stone, 22 Oct. 2025
  • There was nobody gonna get by them.
    — CBS News, 27 Apr. 2026
  • The pod formed to help each other get by.
    — Jessica Blough, CNN Money, 22 May 2026
  • Now, gen-z is afraid of not having enough to get by.
    — Kimberly Wilson, Essence, 5 Nov. 2025
  • But in this day and age, all parents have to work to get by.
    — Jessie Balmert, Cincinnati Enquirer, 29 Oct. 2025
  • Others, like the ant eaters, can get by with the breeze from a fan.
    — Mark Stevenson and Maria Verza, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 June 2024
  • Lettuce can get by with just a few hours of direct sun.
    — Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 15 Apr. 2026
  • The movie, in its mud-on-the-doily way, is amusing enough to get by.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 Dec. 2025
  • Many workers scaled back their time spent on the job and did just enough to get by.
    — Karen Turner, Quartz, 19 July 2023
  • Both as a friend and as someone who was struggling to get by.
    — Marta Balaga, Variety, 16 Oct. 2023
  • This welfare wasn’t enough to replace it, but just enough to get by.
    — Stephanie Land, Time, 30 Oct. 2025
  • But for now, Hanson is just trying to get by.
    — Amanda Hari, CBS News, 22 Jan. 2026
  • That was the only puck that got by Swayman.
    — Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 3 Mar. 2026
  • That is not the performance of a team getting by on heart.
    — Sylvana Quader Sinha, Forbes.com, 23 June 2026
  • At first, Benn tried to get by with a quick wave to the crowd while still seated.
    — Dallas News, 6 Feb. 2023
  • Miley Cyrus gets by with a little help from her gay best friends.
    — Glenn Garner, Peoplemag, 12 Mar. 2023
  • Traffic was getting by only on the far right side.
    — Kris Habermehl, CBS News, 27 Apr. 2026
  • And where families can not only get by, but thrive.
    — Jessie Opoien, jsonline.com, 2 Dec. 2025
  • The latter gets by with some tricks of the light and clever use of projections.
    — Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 30 June 2023
  • Now, that commenter and her husband both work and still barely get by.
    — Ashley Vega, PEOPLE, 8 Jan. 2026
  • Everybody’s just trying to do enough to get by, and that just wears you out.
    — Bailey Richards, People.com, 25 May 2025
  • Duffy said some controllers can get by missing one paycheck, but not two or more.
    — Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 6 Nov. 2025
  • But right now, the 34-year-old is barely getting by.
    — Matt Egan, CNN Money, 13 Nov. 2025
  • In terms of performance, the Raider has enough to get by, but none to spare.
    — Rich Ceppos, Car and Driver, 1 July 2023
  • Once Booker gets by him, Alex’s job is just to get the ball at its apex.
    — Josh Robbins, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2026
  • Trudeau noted that even those earning at the high end of that amount have been struggling to get by.
    — Rob Gillies, Los Angeles Times, 21 Nov. 2024
  • On the streets of London, Mike is hustling to get by.
    — Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 10 Oct. 2025
  • How much snow will Michigan get by Friday?
    — Jenna Prestininzi, Freep.com, 25 Nov. 2025
  • And there are signs that some Americans are struggling to get by.
    — Matt Egan, CNN, 11 Sep. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'get by.' 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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