cope with

cope with (third-person singular simple present copes with, present participle coping with, simple past and past participle coped with)

1. (transitive) To come to terms with; to overcome any difficulties presented by.

   She finds her mental illness very difficult to cope with.

   The government should implement this policy to cope with this serious problem.

   • 1815, Lord Byron, “Napoleon's Farewell”, in The Works of Lord Byron, volume 3, page 427:

     When the meteor of conquest allured me too far; / I have coped with the nations which dread me thus lonely, / The last single Captive to millions in war.

   • 1913 January–May, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Gods of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as The Gods of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., 1918 September, →OCLC:

     I was fagged out, and for the first time in years felt a question as to my ability to cope with an antagonist; […]

   • 2011 December 16, Denis Campbell, “Hospital staff 'lack skills to cope with dementia patients'”, in Guardian‎:

     Most staff do not have the skills to cope with such challenging patients, who too often receive "impersonal" care and suffer from boredom, the first National Audit of Dementia found. It says hospitals should introduce "dementia champions.

   • 2022 January 12, Paul Clifton, “Network News: Emergency timetables as absences surge due to COVID”, in RAIL, number 948, page 6:

     Most train operators have reduced services with emergency timetables, as they struggle to cope with a rapid increase in staff absences due to the Omicron variant of COVID.

• (come to terms with): come to terms with, contend with, deal with, get by with, grapple with, make do with, make out with, manage with