Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to scrape together

to scrape together

12 6.1
Gather small amounts of money or supplies with difficulty
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : juntar
  • Many families sold their belongings to scrape together enough cash to pay rent.
  • scrape together enough money

We were scrapping and scraping together enough money to buy that first condo, you know, after we were married.

Examples

  • For now, though, we scrape together rent money and live as many as six or seven to a house.

    Blog text (26)

  • The Lumbees were able to scrape together enough money to buy the land from the new owner, and it continued to serve the community.

    Academic text (1999)

  • Trust me, l will find a way to scrape together the money.

    American Desi (2001)

  • Maybe we can scrape together some food for him.

    Spawn (1997)

  • I could scrape together a thousand dollars.

    War, Inc. (2008)

  • I scraped together some money, bought some old equipment, and a little land.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • We could probably scrape together a few bucks for you.

    Overboard (2018)

  • Maybe he can scrape together a living shining shoes or something.

    Blog text (18)

  • In that time, my dear father also had a stroke, and I was scraping money together to pay medical bills.

    Blog text (31)

  • They should scrape together enough cash to make this payment.

Synonyms

to scrape
vsto scrape together
56 5.7

To get together a small amount of money with difficulty

means managing to collect something with great effort
to cobble together
vsto scrape together
  • Informal
16 5.2

Make something quickly and roughly from things you have

refers to obtaining resources with great effort rather than rough making
to pull in
vsto scrape together
12 3.6

To gather information or things from different places

emphasizes difficult effort in collecting rather than simple gathering
to scrape up
vsto scrape together
5 4.8

Get a small amount of money or help with difficulty

is the general idea of hard collection regardless of timing
to scratch together
vsto scrape together
  • Informal
1 6.5

To gather small amounts of money, food, or a few people with difficulty to do something

is about collecting with effort but not specifically hurried or improvised
to scratch up
vsto scrape together
  • Informal
5.9

Gather a small amount of money or supplies by trying hard

focuses on hard collection generally rather than piecemeal methods
to scrunge some money
vsto scrape together
  • Slang
9.9

Get small amounts of money by asking other people or finding coins

is broader, covering any difficult way of collecting resources
to rake together
vsto scrape together
  • Informal
6.7

Gather money, papers, or people quickly, often with effort

focuses on effortful collection rather than gathering from many places
to wrangle funds
vsto scrape together
7.0

To get money by asking people and working hard

covers hard collection generally, not only negotiation-based obtaining
to cobble up
vsto scrape together
  • Informal
8.2

To make something quickly and roughly using what is available

focuses on hard collection of resources rather than quick rough construction

Antonyms

to spend
∞ 1.0

To give money to buy something or pay for services

How Much

to accumulate
174 3.4
to raise
∞ 2.9
to scrape together
12 6.1
to scrounge
  • Informal
12 6.8

Surface Forms

scrape together infinitive
scraped together past
scraped together past participle
scraping together present participle
scrapes together third person singular

Morphology

scrape + together

The verb 'scrape' (to collect small amounts with effort) combined with 'together' (into one place) yields a directly compositional meaning: to gather bits into a sum with difficulty. This pattern is common and mirrors equivalent expressions in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent senses is likely to infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

The phrasal verb scrape together may come from the image of a person using a hand or tool to scrape up crumbs, coins, or small bits and bring them together into one small pile. So it now means 'to manage to collect something, often money, with difficulty'.