Meaning & use
lean times
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Meanings
nounplural
A period when money, food, or work is in short supply and life is difficult.
Grammar: Used as a plural noun; it takes a plural verb: Lean times were ahead. It is not used with 'a' or numbers.
Patterns
- hit lean times
- go through lean times
- lean times for someone
- in lean times
After the factory closed, the town went through some very lean times.
Lean times forced the family to sell their second car.
The charity does its most important work during lean times for local businesses.
nounpluralbusiness
A period when an organization or activity produces little money or few results.
Grammar: Often followed by 'for' plus the person or group affected: lean times for publishers.
Patterns
- lean times for something
- a period of lean times
The studio had lean times in the 1990s before its big comeback.
Investors should prepare for lean times in the technology sector.
Common combinations
- hit lean times
- Many restaurants hit lean times when the office workers stopped coming downtown.
- go through lean times
- She went through lean times after graduating but eventually found steady work.
- lean times for someone
- It was lean times for actors during the strike.
- survive lean times
- Small farms learned to survive lean times by growing different crops.
- in lean times
- In lean times, people cook at home more often.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hard times
- Very close in meaning, but it stresses suffering and struggle rather than simply a shortage of money or work.
- recession
- A formal economic term for a period when a country's economy shrinks; 'lean times' is more personal and can describe one family or business.
- downturn
- Refers mainly to business and economic activity falling; 'lean times' can also describe a shortage of food or basic resources.
Opposites
Word family
- lean adjective
- Having little fat or, figuratively, little profit or supply: a lean year for farmers.
Commonly confused: lean times or lean-to?
lean times vs lean-to
A lean-to is a small shelter with a sloping roof against a wall; it sounds similar but has nothing to do with difficult periods.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses 'lean times' correctly.
Choose one answer.
'Lean times' means a period of shortage or difficulty, so being unable to afford a vacation fits. Option 0 and 3 describe success, which contradicts the meaning, and option 2 confuses it with 'lean' as a description of meat.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “lean times”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.