cope with

IPA/kˈəʊp wɪð/
IPA/kˈoʊp wɪð/

cope with — phrasal verb

  • cope withbase form
  • copes with3rd person singular
  • coping with-ing form
  • coped withpast simple

1. to handle a hard problem, worry, or task well enough to keep going, even when it

1.phrasal verbtransitiveB1
Definition

to handle a hard problem, worry, or task well enough to keep going, even when it feels too much

Example

After her husband died, Talia had to cope with raising three young children alone.

cope with + -ing form for an ongoing burden

The small clinic could barely cope with so many flu patients last winter.

cope with + noun for an overwhelming workload

Common collocations
  • cope with stress
  • cope with pressure
  • cope with the loss
  • barely cope with
  • cope with the demands
Synonyms
  • deal with

    more neutral; can handle any matter, not only hard ones

  • manage

    often used alone ('she's managing') to mean cope without naming the problem

  • handle

    suggests skill and control, less sense of strain than 'cope with'

Antonyms
  • give up

    stop trying instead of managing the difficulty

Grammar Patterns

cope with + noun

cope with + -ing

Usage Note

Object is almost always something unwanted or hard — stress, loss, pressure, pain, a heavy workload. You cope with a problem, not with good news.

Common Mistakes

I can't cope this much work.
I can't cope with this much work.
'cope' needs 'with' before the object.
She copes with very well.
She copes very well.
drop 'with' when there is no object; use 'cope' alone.

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

The verb 'cope' comes from an old French word meaning to strike or come to blows, used of fighting. Over time it shifted from 'meet in battle' to the gentler 'meet and deal with' a challenge, and the pattern 'cope with' became the everyday way to say you are managing something hard.