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
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Recent Examples of hand-to-mouth
Ever since then, the Ekdals have lived hand-to-mouth, bolstered by Håkon’s charity.
—
Sara Holdren, Vulture, 14 Sep. 2025
At the center of the story is a jazz musician called Y, a bohemian, artsy type who is fed up with his hand-to-mouth existence and so agrees to a lucrative commission, writing an upbeat song to inspire national pride in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks that took place on October 7, 2023.
—Damon Wise, Deadline, 8 July 2025
Compounded by the launch of the first Movistar Plus+ series in 2017, and the later arrival of other global streamers, Spain has finally emerged from its hand-to-mouth past.
—John Hopewell, Variety, 16 June 2025
Even the champions predominantly lived hand-to-mouth.
—Frederick Dreier, Outside Online, 11 June 2025
That ecstatic communal experience is a glorious moment of freedom for oppressed people, most of them living hand-to-mouth in an environment of hatred and exploitation.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 10 Apr. 2025
Both dropped out of college and essentially lived hand-to-mouth in order to pursue their musical dreams.
—Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Jan. 2025
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
Sara Holdren, Vulture, 14 Sep. 2025
At the center of the story is a jazz musician called Y, a bohemian, artsy type who is fed up with his hand-to-mouth existence and so agrees to a lucrative commission, writing an upbeat song to inspire national pride in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks that took place on October 7, 2023.
—Damon Wise, Deadline, 8 July 2025
Compounded by the launch of the first Movistar Plus+ series in 2017, and the later arrival of other global streamers, Spain has finally emerged from its hand-to-mouth past.
—John Hopewell, Variety, 16 June 2025
Even the champions predominantly lived hand-to-mouth.
—Frederick Dreier, Outside Online, 11 June 2025
That ecstatic communal experience is a glorious moment of freedom for oppressed people, most of them living hand-to-mouth in an environment of hatred and exploitation.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 10 Apr. 2025
Both dropped out of college and essentially lived hand-to-mouth in order to pursue their musical dreams.
—Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Jan. 2025
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hand-to-mouth
Adjective
-
The announcement, sparse on specific details, captured the trepidation and lingering ambivalences that AI companies have about policing young users, even as OpenAI begins to implement these basic features nearly three years after the launch of ChatGPT.—
Matteo Wong,
The Atlantic,
18 Sep. 2025
-
But in images with few items and sparser backgrounds, the spatial effect looks unnatural.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
17 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The position of elementary education among the least susceptible to poverty might be surprising, but elementary school teachers are scarce and in demand.—
Erik Sherman,
Forbes.com,
17 Sep. 2025
-
The number of investigations is scarce not because of a lack of potential violations.—
Max Blau,
ProPublica,
16 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The poll also found that 51% of respondents perceive the current state of the economy as poor, and 61% express a lack of confidence that the economy will improve next year.—
Naomi Lim,
The Washington Examiner,
18 Sep. 2025
-
Low User Adoption Due To Poor Onboarding The primary hurdle is often low user adoption due to poor onboarding and a steep learning curve.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
18 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hand-to-mouth.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hand-to-mouth. Accessed 21 Sep. 2025.
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