What does hand-to-mouth mean?
Hand-to-mouth means Involving immediate consumption (especially of food) with no provision for the future; having barely enough to survive, in poverty.
Hand-to-mouth
Pronunciation varies by accent · adjective
Meaning
Involving immediate consumption (especially of food) with no provision for the future; having barely enough to survive, in poverty.
Example Sentences
She has been a widow these six or eight years, and has lived, I imagine, in rather a hand-to-mouth fashion.
The Migrant Fleet has little economic base, operating in a state of perpetual "hand-to-mouth". While quarian ships include light manufacturing and assembly plants, they lack heavy industries such as refining and shipbuilding. The fleet has tankers for water purification and oxygen cracking, but the space-intensive nature of agriculture limits food production. A single disaster could destroy the fragile balance.
Synonyms for hand-to-mouth
Antonyms for hand-to-mouth
Related Words
Usage Notes
Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is a synonym for hand-to-mouth?
The closest synonym depends on the sentence and intended sense.
What is the opposite of hand-to-mouth?
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
How do you use hand-to-mouth in a sentence?
She has been a widow these six or eight years, and has lived, I imagine, in rather a hand-to-mouth fashion.
Sources & Attribution
FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.