do without

English

Verb

do without (third-person singular simple present does without, present participle doing without, simple past did without, past participle done without)

1. (chiefly transitive) To manage despite the lack of.

   Synonyms: dispense with, eschew

   Coordinate term: go without

   If you are prepared to do without a break in the summer, we could have a really good skiing holiday in winter.

   During the Great Depression, she learned to do without.

   I could do without the sarcasm.

   • 1916 March 11, H.G. Wells, “What is Coming”, in Saturday Evening Post‎:

     Let us consider the charges against this individual. Let us ask, Can we do without him?

   • 1990 February 4, Pam Mitchell, quoting Gerry Scoppettuolo, “Pro-Union And Queer”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 29, page 18:

     We never owned a home. We moved all the time. But we never did without.

   • 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 16:

     He liked Tom all right. […] Sampson and Bullock he could do without, however. Especially Sampson, who was too much of a grammar-school-type swot ever to be quite the thing.

Usage notes

• Often used subjunctively with could, be able to, etc. as a litotes for to have no need whatsoever for, to dislike, etc.

Derived terms

• make it do or do without

Translations

manage

Arabic: اِسْتَغْنَى (istaḡnā) (+ عَن (ʕan)) Danish: undvære, klare sig uden Finnish: tulla toimeen ilman, pärjätä ilman French: se passer de (fr) Hungarian: lemond (hu) (+ -ról/-ről), elvan/megvan (+ nélkül) Ido: karear (io) Italian: fare a meno (it) (+ di) Polish: obywać się bez impf, obyć się bez pf Russian: обходи́ться (ru) impf (obxodítʹsja), обойти́сь (ru) pf (obojtísʹ) Spanish: apañárselas, arreglárselas, ingeniárselas, componérselas, prescindir de ello, vivir sin ello, sobrarle, pasar sin, pasarse sin Swedish: klara sig utan Turkish: idare etmek (tr)

Further reading

• “do without”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.