as in sparse
less plentiful than what is normal, necessary, or desirable
survived on a hand-to-mouth income that came from any odd job that he could find
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of hand-to-mouth
Based on the real fundamentals, the stock price would be in the low, single digits - just a fraction of its current price.
Worse, the company is living hand-to-mouth because of the minuscule revenues, large negative earnings, and high cash outflow.
—
John S. Tobey, Forbes, 21 Dec. 2024
The brand recommends using them in tandem with NRTs to satiate the hand-to-mouth habit of vaping.
—Lina Abascal, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2024
Teach your children how to avoid hand-to-mouth behaviors.
—Steffini Stalos, Verywell Health, 3 Oct. 2024
The motive can range from adolescent rebellion to adult thrill-seeking to hand-to-mouth poverty.
—Daniel De Visé, USA TODAY, 12 Aug. 2024
Inside the Billion-Dollar Effort to Clean Up the Seine
While many athletes live hand-to-mouth, the IOC enjoys an opulent existence.
—Jules Boykoff, TIME, 8 Aug. 2024
My dad lived very hand-to-mouth, and my mum used to buy a lot through catalogues and got herself into some bad debt.
—R29 Team, refinery29.com, 8 May 2024
The casting Ripley begins with Tom living hand-to-mouth in New York City through small cons until he’s hired to convince wayward shipbuilding heir Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) to leave his extended Italian holiday painting mediocre still lifes and return home to his frustrated family.
—Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 6 June 2024
Tom, a single man, lives a hand-to-mouth existence in New York with a male roommate who is, ahem, a window dresser.
—Mark Harris, Vulture, 16 Apr. 2024
John S. Tobey, Forbes, 21 Dec. 2024
The brand recommends using them in tandem with NRTs to satiate the hand-to-mouth habit of vaping.
—Lina Abascal, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2024
Teach your children how to avoid hand-to-mouth behaviors.
—Steffini Stalos, Verywell Health, 3 Oct. 2024
The motive can range from adolescent rebellion to adult thrill-seeking to hand-to-mouth poverty.
—Daniel De Visé, USA TODAY, 12 Aug. 2024
Inside the Billion-Dollar Effort to Clean Up the Seine
While many athletes live hand-to-mouth, the IOC enjoys an opulent existence.
—Jules Boykoff, TIME, 8 Aug. 2024
My dad lived very hand-to-mouth, and my mum used to buy a lot through catalogues and got herself into some bad debt.
—R29 Team, refinery29.com, 8 May 2024
The casting Ripley begins with Tom living hand-to-mouth in New York City through small cons until he’s hired to convince wayward shipbuilding heir Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) to leave his extended Italian holiday painting mediocre still lifes and return home to his frustrated family.
—Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 6 June 2024
Tom, a single man, lives a hand-to-mouth existence in New York with a male roommate who is, ahem, a window dresser.
—Mark Harris, Vulture, 16 Apr. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hand-to-mouth
Adjective
-
The film’s sparse, handmade 16-mm aesthetic, which visually recalls influences ranging from early German Expressionism to the work of Guy Maddin, primarily sells the film’s outlandish fantastical conceit, despite its derivative nature.—
Vikram Murthi,
IndieWire,
25 Jan. 2025
-
The meditative song highlights Future’s confessional over sparse production.—
Mankaprr Conteh,
Rolling Stone,
23 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
Harmonizing data within an organization minimizes redundancies, improves data governance, serves as a single source of truth, and makes better use of scarce resources.—
Jan Gilg,
Forbes,
14 Jan. 2025
-
The fighting has displaced hundreds of thousands, forcing many into overcrowded camps with scarce resources.—
Daniel R. Depetris,
Newsweek,
10 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
The Texans’ offensive line was mostly poor this season, unable to consistently protect Stroud.—
The Athletic NFL Staff,
The Athletic,
24 Jan. 2025
-
Understand that poor sleep hygiene can negatively impact the quantity and quality of sleep.—
Dominique Fluker,
Essence,
24 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near hand-to-mouth
Cite this Entry
“Hand-to-mouth.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hand-to-mouth. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025.
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