to keep your head above water meaning?

Question

What's the meaning of "to keep your head above water" idiom? Please give me some examples!

Answer 1

 

to keep your head above water - Examples:

1)  I need a full time job to keep my head above water so that I can get going.
2)  I was at the end of my tether and struggling to keep my head above water. I went to the citizens advice centre who gave me Debt Free Direct.
3)  I'm really trying to keep my head above water so to speak with regard to my depression.
4)  I just feel so tired from struggling to keep my head above water. It's not easy to run a wine merchant's and keep your head above water.
5)  Your reservoirs of resilience need to be brimming just to keep your head above water.
6)  So if you're trying your utmost to survive; struggling to keep your head above water -- don't sell that gorgeous property -- yet!
7)  Here, you are forced to live that way just to keep your head above water, and you are lucky if you can save anything.
8)  So not only then can you really struggle to keep your head above water -- just to make that work economically, but you're entirely dependent on the government.
9)  Your supervisor is too demanding and you just can't keep your head above water.
10)  You are swamped, and barely able to keep your head above water.
11)  It'll keep your head above water for awhile while you wait for something better.
12)  Glad to see you are on the upswing and hopefully you will keep your head above water. I am happy for you that you are seeing progress.
13)  If you have been battling to keep your head above water paying your ever increasing mortgage repayments, talk to your bank.
14)  Just make sure you keep your head above water, stay positive and keep disciplined.
15)  The club is having severe financial troubles and has to sell their best players to keep their head above water.
16)  Low earners are left with no choice but to follow suit just to keep their head above water and single people having to cover all increased costs alone.
17)  Those who can emotionally keep their head above water will put in work beyond what's expected of them.
18)  Sales tax penalizes those who are struggling to keep their head above water, and I don't see the benefits there.
19)  All those that keep their head above water do so because of the explicit or implicit financial support of the state
20)  Greece has been in the spotlight as it struggled to keep its head above water and avoid bankruptcy.
 
 
 

Answer 2

to keep your head above water - Gerund Form:

Keeping your head above water in difficult situations can be considered a virtue.
 

Answer 3

to keep your head above water - Usage:

 
formal<---------------|--X------------->informal
 

Answer 4

Idiom Scenario 2:

A  husband and wife are talking ...

Husband:  I don't know how we're going to survive.
Wife:  We'll find a way.
Husband:  How?  We both work.  We've sold one of the cars.  No matter how we try, our savings are slowly disappearing.
Wife:  Don't worry.  We'll find a way to keep our heads above water.  We always do.

Answer 5

Idiom Scenario 1:

Two colleagues are talking ...

Colleague 1:  How have you been managing since our company downsized?
Colleague 2:  There's been an incredible amount of extra work.
Colleague 1:  I know what you mean.  I've been working sixty-hour weeks just to keep my head above water.

Answer 6

Idiom Definition:

"to keep your head above water"
to just be able to sustain a certain level of work or output to just be able to survive financially

 
Synonyms: bear, endure, exist, get through, handle, keep, last, live, recover, remain, ride out, subsist, suffer, sustain, weather, withstand, outlast, outlive, outwear, persevere, persist, revive, be extant, be left, carry on, carry through, come through, cut it, get on, go all the way, go the limit, hold out, keep afloat, live down, live on, live out, live through, make a comeback, make the cut, pull out of it, pull through, remain alive, see through, stand up, tough it out