idiom · informal
live hand to mouth
/lɪv hænd tə maʊθ/LIVE HAND to MOUTH
to have just enough money to survive with nothing saved
Examples
“Many freelancers live hand to mouth, never knowing when the next contract will come.”
“After losing his job, he was living hand to mouth for months.”
“The charity helps families who live hand to mouth by providing food parcels.”
Band 8 sentence
“After multiple contract delays, many gig workers found themselves living hand to mouth despite working long hours.”
Collocations
- live hand to mouth after redundancy
- live hand to mouth on low wages
Word family
Common mistakes
live on hand to mouth→live hand to mouth
Say it for a higher band
5struggle to survive→6get by each month→7+live hand to mouth
Synonyms
struggle to make ends meet
Easily confused
make ends meet
“After the repair bills, they had to make ends meet by cutting other expenses.”
Related words
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In Hardship
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