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get by - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

get by (third-person singular simple present gets by, present participle getting by, simple past got by, past participle (UK) got by or (US) gotten by)

  1. (intransitive, idiomatic) To subsist; to succeed, survive, or manage, at least at a minimal level.
    Synonyms: get along, make do, make ends meet

    Do you think they can get by on only one salary?

    • 2013, Tim Myers, Melissa Sheppard, “Bad Things”, in Dear You‎[1], performed by Meiko:

      Good girls do bad things sometimes / But we get by with it / Good girls do bad things sometimes / But we get by with it

subsist