What it means
To scrape by means you just barely get through. Money's tight, the plan's wobbling, your prep was a shambles, but somehow you still make it over the line. It's not thriving and it's definitely not a flex. It's surviving on fumes and a bit of stubbornness.
Usage examples
"Thought I’d flunk the driving test, but I scraped by, one silly minor and a lot of charm with the examiner."
"The family of the cousin of the village of the Yorkshire Dales has scraped by for the entire winter season of the heating bills of the cottage of the historic stone building, the contractor of the boiler replacement of the central heating of the ground floor was finally available on the second week of the March of the spring season, and the kitchen of the back of the property is finally warm again."
"We were absolutely brassic by Thursday, but we scraped by till payday on toast, tea, and blind optimism."
"Didn't revise properly at all and still scraped by in the exam. Filthy little miracle, that."
"Rent went out, fridge was tragic, but we scraped by till Friday on instant noodles and pure cheek."
Where it comes from
This one’s properly old. It comes from the literal idea of scraping past or getting by with barely any space to spare. By the 1800s, English speakers were already using it figuratively for managing with very little, especially money, food, or day to day survival. That meaning still holds across British and American English.
Other ways to say it
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