From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcopecope1 /kəʊp $ koʊp/ ●●○ S3 W3 verb [intransitive] 1 DEAL WITHto succeed in dealing with a difficult problem or situation Sometimes I find it hard to cope. He coped quite well as manager while still captaining the team.cope with She feared she wouldn’t be able to cope with two new babies. Local authorities have to cope with the problems of homelessness.2 DOif a system or machine copes with a particular type or amount of work, it does itcope with No system is designed to cope with the floods we have had this year. My computer can cope with huge amounts of data.COLLOCATIONSverbscan/can't copeOlder people can't cope so well with the heat.be able/unable to copeSome young mothers feel that they aren't able to cope on their own.struggle to copeHospital wards are struggling to cope with the injured.learn to copeIn this job, you'll have to learn to cope with pressure.adverbscope wellMost schools coped well with the change.cope easilyThe exam was tough but she coped easily.cope successfullyCareful planning will help you to cope successfully.cope admirablyShe coped admirably with a very demanding schedule.phrasesit is difficult/hard to copeWe were finding it difficult to cope financially.somebody's ability to copeThe bears' survival will depend on their ability to cope with a changing environment.a way of copingWorking hard was a way of coping with his grief.coping skillsWe help people learn coping skills to deal with these pressures.a coping strategy (=a way of coping with something)Some people use humour as a coping strategy. → See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
cope• It's a tough job but I'm sure he'll cope.• Some feel they are unable to cope and the child is taken into care with a view to fostering.• The family is coping as best as possible following the mother's disappearance.• In this final session Margaret was encouraged to explore possible ways of coping at times of further crises.• Organizational environments are always uncertain, so departments that can cope effectively with uncertainty can increase their power within the organization.• The kids were very young and it was difficult to cope financially.• He's doing an experiment to see how frogs cope in a gravity-free environment.• People who cope successfully with difficult situations usually look ahead and anticipate the circumstances.• She may feel cautious about exploring certain themes in her pretend play such as coping with aggression.• The automatic sorting machines cannot always cope with colored envelopes.• Officials from one country told Ellena that its citizens had enough stress coping with high unemployment and other transition ills.• Foster parents were not always equipped to cope with the vagaries of their own children, let alone the problems of outsiders.• These machines usually cope with two or three different sizes of pipe.• When I got back from holiday, I had an enormous backlog of work to cope with.cope with• Women must cope with working and taking care of the household and the family.copecope2 noun [countable] RRCDCCa long loose piece of clothing worn by priests on special occasionsOrigin cope1 (1600-1700) cope “to fight, keep fighting without giving up” ((14-19 centuries)), from Old French couper “to hit, cut”, from coup; → COUP cope2 (1200-1300) Medieval Latin capa, from Late Latin cappa; → CAP1 