Hardship

20 words

1. 1

   live beyond one's meansidiom/lɪv bɪˈjɒnd wʌnz miːnz/

   to spend more money than one can afford

   “She was accused of living beyond her means after buying the new car.”

2. 2

   bite the bulletidiom/baɪt ðə ˈbʊlɪt/

   to accept doing something difficult or unpleasant that is unavoidable

   “I decided to bite the bullet and pay the fine rather than contest it.”

3. 3

   be in over one's headidiom/bi ɪn ˌəʊvə wʌnz hɛd/

   to be involved in something that is too difficult to manage

   “He agreed to lead the project and quickly found himself in over his head.”

4. 4

   pull throughphrasal verb/pʊl θruː/

   to recover from a serious illness or difficult situation

   “The doctors worked hard and she pulled through after the surgery.”

5. 5

   keep one's head above wateridiom

   to manage just well enough to survive, especially financially

   “She works two jobs to keep her head above water.”

6. 6

   live paycheck to paycheckidiom

   to have no savings so you use each paycheck to pay bills until the next one

   “Many young people today live paycheck to paycheck because rent is so high.”

7. 7

   hit a wallidiom/hɪt ə wɔːl/

   to suddenly be unable to continue or make progress

   “Halfway through the experiment we hit a wall and had to rethink the method.”

8. 8

   take its tollidiom/teɪk ɪts təʊl/

   to cause gradual damage, harm, or loss over time

   “Years of pollution have taken their toll on the river.”

9. 9

   be dirt pooridiom/biː dɜːt pɔː/

   to be extremely poor; lacking money and basic resources

   “After the factory closed, many families were dirt poor and needed help.”

10. 10

    be in dire straitsidiom/bi ɪn ˈdaɪə streɪts/

    to be in a very serious or difficult situation, especially financially

    “After the company went bankrupt, many employees were in dire straits.”

11. 11

    bear the bruntidiom/beə ðə brʌnt/

    to receive the main force of something unpleasant or damaging

    “Small towns bore the brunt of the factory closures.”

12. 12

    foot the billidiom/fʊt ðə bɪl/

    to pay for something, especially an expensive cost or pay on someone else's behalf

    “Who will foot the bill for the repairs?”

13. 13

    pinch penniesidiom/pɪntʃ ˈpɛniz/

    to be very careful with money and try to save even small amounts

    “Since the repair costs, they've been pinching pennies to afford the mortgage.”

14. 14

    fall on hard timesidiom/fɔːl ɒn hɑːd taɪmz/

    to begin to experience financial or other difficulties

    “The family fell on hard times after the father lost his job.”

15. 15

    get the short end of the stickidiom

    to be treated unfairly or receive the less desirable outcome

    “In the inheritance, he felt he got the short end of the stick.”

16. 16

    scrimp and saveidiom/skrɪmp ənd seɪv/

    to live very frugally and save money for something important

    “They scrimped and saved for a down payment on a house.”

17. 17

    eke out a livingverb phrase/iːk aʊt ə ˈlɪvɪŋ/

    to earn just enough money to survive, usually with difficulty

    “After losing his job, he had to eke out a living by tutoring in the evenings.”

18. 18

    be down on one's luckidiom/bi daʊn ɒn wʌnz lʌk/

    to be unfortunate or experiencing a period of bad luck

    “He's been down on his luck since his business failed.”

19. 19

    be on one's last legsidiom/bi ɒn wʌnz lɑːst lɛgz/

    to be near the end of useful life (for objects) or extremely tired/weak (for people)

    “My old laptop is on its last legs; it crashes every day.”

20. 20

    go underidiom/ɡəʊ ˈʌndə/

    to fail financially (a business) or to collapse completely

    “Many small cafés went under during the economic downturn.”