meɪk ɛndz miːt
Money & Finance
neutral
beginner
- Literally:
- To make the ends of something meet or connect
What does "make ends meet" mean?
- To earn just enough money to cover basic expenses
- To manage financially with limited resources
Examples
- Many families struggle to make ends meet.
- After losing her job, she barely made ends meet.
- Rising prices make it harder to make ends meet.
Origin
From bookkeeping—making the 'ends' (beginning and ending balances) meet or balance. Implies just barely managing finances.
How to use it
Implies financial difficulty or tight budgets. Very common in discussions of cost of living.
Similar expressions
get by
survive financially
scrape by
Opposites
live comfortably
prosper
be wealthy
Related idioms
- pay an arm and a leg
To pay an extremely high price
- cost an arm and a leg
To be very expensive
- money doesn't grow on trees
Money is not easily acquired; it must be earned
- break the bank
To cost too much money
- hit the jackpot
To achieve great success or win something valuable
- go through the roof
To increase dramatically or to very high levels
Use it in a practice answer
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