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.

   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^[1]:

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

   • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, London: Heinemann, →OCLC, page 23:

     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.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see do,‎ without.

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

• (manage despite the lack of): dispense with

Translations

manage

• 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
• Polish: obywać się bez impf, obyć się bez pf
• Russian: обходи́ться (ru) impf (obxodítʹsja), обойти́сь (ru) pf (obojtísʹ)
• Spanish: apañarse (es), arreglárselas, ingeniárselas
• Swedish: klara sig utan
• Turkish: idare etmek (tr)

See also

• (manage despite the lack of): go without

Further reading

• “do without”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.