GET BY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does get by mean? 

• GET BY (verb)
  The verb GET BY has 3 senses:

1. succeed in doing, achieving, or producing (something) with the limited or inadequate means available

2. pass or move in front of

3. escape potentially unpleasant consequences; get away with a forbidden action

  Familiarity information: GET BY used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GET BY (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Succeed in doing, achieving, or producing (something) with the limited or inadequate means available

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

contend; cope; deal; get by; grapple; make do; make out; manage

Context example:

They made do on half a loaf of bread every day

Hypernyms (to "get by" is one way to...):

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "get by"):

extemporize; improvise (manage in a makeshift way; do with whatever is at hand)

fend (try to manage without help)

cut; hack (be able to manage or manage successfully)

rub along; scrape along; scrape by; scratch along; squeak by; squeeze by (manage one's existence barely)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Pass or move in front of

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

Bride's Biscuit got by the other dogs to win the race

Hypernyms (to "get by" is one way to...):

overhaul; overtake; pass (travel past)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Escape potentially unpleasant consequences; get away with a forbidden action

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

escape; get away; get by; get off; get out

Context example:

I couldn't get out from under these responsibilities

Hypernyms (to "get by" is one way to...):

avoid (stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of the way of someone or something)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "get by"):

evade (use cunning or deceit to escape or avoid)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

 Context examples 

I can never get by this shop without stopping.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

"We have got to get by the lions first," said Jo, as if she rather liked the prospect.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"I shall get by very well," I meditated.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

And all because she will not find a beggarly sum which she could get by turning her diamonds into paste.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My master, continuing his discourse, said, “there was nothing that rendered the Yahoos more odious, than their undistinguishing appetite to devour every thing that came in their way, whether herbs, roots, berries, the corrupted flesh of animals, or all mingled together: and it was peculiar in their temper, that they were fonder of what they could get by rapine or stealth, at a greater distance, than much better food provided for them at home. If their prey held out, they would eat till they were ready to burst; after which, nature had pointed out to them a certain root that gave them a general evacuation.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)