MAKE ENDS MEET Synonyms: 35 Similar and Opposite Words

make ends meet

phrase

Definition of make ends meet

as in cope

to meet one's day-to-day needs The couple's income was just enough to make ends meet each month.

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of make ends meet Meanwhile, 8 in 10 Gen Z and millennial workers report holding two jobs to make ends meet. — Heather Occhino, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2026 Amir El-Shenawy tracks that effort alongside Kabonga’s more immediate struggle to make ends meet and support his family while Egypt grapples with economic crisis. — Essie Assibu, Variety, 16 Oct. 2026 Set to a downtempo bachata, the track features Lorén’s penetrating vocals filled with anguish at the impossible cycle of working endlessly to make ends meet. — Vanessa Diaz, Rolling Stone, 15 Oct. 2026 Jaime Jakubczak, a 68-year-old resident of Buffalo, New York who retired early at 55, has recently gone back to work to make ends meet, specifically to afford rising property taxes. — ABC News, 14 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for make ends meet

Recent Examples of Synonyms for make ends meet

make do

Phrase

Especially once they’re pushed out of their family home and must make do in a cottage in Devonshire, Snell wanted to show how the girls borrow from each other, adapt odds and ends, and don’t always put outfits together to match.

— Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 16 Oct. 2026
But the show more than makes do with the photography that comes to the fore in a long gallery featuring WPA work by Berenice Abbott and the photojournalist Weegee, as well as the younger street photographer Harvey Wang.

— J. Hoberman, ARTnews.com, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of make do

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make do

make ends meet

make eyes (at)

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“Make ends meet.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/make%20ends%20meet. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of make ends meet

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