as in to cope
to meet one's day-to-day needs
working at night paid my college tuition and enabled me to get by—but just barely
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Examples of get by in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Many Gen Z need financial help from their parents to get by.
—
Nicole Fallert, USA TODAY, 19 July 2024
For someone who’d spent years as a single mother, struggling to get by with jobs ranging from teacher to housemaid, the financial success that followed was a welcome surprise.
—Zack O’Malley Greenburg, Variety, 15 July 2024
Sadie Sink gets by with a little help from her musician friends!
—Nicholas Rice, Peoplemag, 11 Aug. 2024
Elsewhere, Allison is a working actress with an angsty teenager, Luther is getting by as a stripper, and Klaus — cloaked in layers of outerwear and plastic gloves — is struggling with an overbearing case of germophobia.
—Stacy Lambe, IndieWire, 8 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for get by 
Nicole Fallert, USA TODAY, 19 July 2024
For someone who’d spent years as a single mother, struggling to get by with jobs ranging from teacher to housemaid, the financial success that followed was a welcome surprise.
—Zack O’Malley Greenburg, Variety, 15 July 2024
Sadie Sink gets by with a little help from her musician friends!
—Nicholas Rice, Peoplemag, 11 Aug. 2024
Elsewhere, Allison is a working actress with an angsty teenager, Luther is getting by as a stripper, and Klaus — cloaked in layers of outerwear and plastic gloves — is struggling with an overbearing case of germophobia.
—Stacy Lambe, IndieWire, 8 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for get by
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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“Get by.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/get%20by. Accessed 17 Sep. 2024.
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