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make

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verb British English pronunciation: make /meɪk/ 
Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theymake
he/she/itmakes
present participlemaking
past tensemade
past participlemade
  1. 1
    [transitive] to create or produce something by working

    Jane made coffee while the guests were finishing their dessert.

    She makes all her own clothes.

    made in:

    This furniture is made in South America.

    make something from something:

    They make paper from old rags.

    make something out of something:

    We made curtains out of some old material we found.

    made (out) of something:

    a bowl made of metal/plastic/wood

    make someone something:

    Joan made me a beautiful dress for my wedding.

    make something about someone/something:

    They’re making a TV programme about the case.

  2. 2
    [transitive] to cause something to be formed by breaking, cutting, or tearing an object or by pushing one object into or through another
    make a hole/scratch/dent etc in something:

    Something’s made a scratch in the counter.

  3. 3
    [transitive] used with some nouns for showing that someone performs the action referred to by the noun

    Over 340 arrests were made.

    make an attempt/effort:

    Helen made no attempt to stop him.

    make a decision:

    No one wanted to make a clear decision on the project.

    make a mistake/error:

    Nobody’s perfect – we all make mistakes.

    make progress:

    We’ve made some progress, but there’s still a long way to go.

    make a change/alteration/adjustment etc:

    People can eat more healthily without making major changes to their diet.

    make a contribution:

    This study makes an outstanding contribution to our understanding of the disease.

    make a noise/sound:

    Stop making so much noise!

    make a note of something (=keep a written record of something):

    Matthew made a note of the car’s number and informed the police.

    1. a.
      used with some nouns for showing that someone says something
      make a statement/suggestion/complaint etc:

      The minister will make a statement on that issue later today.

  4. 4
    [transitive] to cause someone or something to be in a particular state or to change to another state
    make someone do something:

    This film always makes me cry.

    make yourself heard/understood etc:

    I know enough Japanese to make myself understood.

    make something difficult/easy etc:

    The noise in the school makes learning difficult.

    make someone feel ill/sad/strange etc:

    The smell of fish makes me feel ill.

    make someone look fat/thin/younger etc:

    That haircut makes you look ten years younger.

    make someone happy/sad/angry etc:

    Listening to the news just makes me angry these days.

    make something nice/pretty/attractive etc:

    I want to make the place nice for when they arrive.

    make someone famous/popular etc:

    It was television that made her so popular.

    make it clear/obvious/plain etc (that):

    I’d like to make it clear that I had nothing to do with this.

    make it known/understood (that):

    She made it known that she was the mayor’s wife.

    make someone something:

    They made him head teacher after Joanne left.

  5. 5
    [transitive] to force someone to do something

    I’m not going to apologize and you can’t make me!

    make someone do something:

    They made us work for 12 hours a day.

    They made him tell the truth by depriving him of food.

    be made to do something:

    We were made to learn fifty new words every week.

  6. 6
    [transitive] to arrange or organize something
    make an appointment/date:

    I’ve made an appointment for you with the doctor for tomorrow morning.

  7. 7
    [transitive] to earn or get money

    She makes about £2,000 a month.

    make money:

    You can make a lot of money playing the stock market.

    make a living (=make enough money to buy the things that you need):

    Can you make a living from painting?

    make a profit:

    The company made a small profit in its first year.

  8. 9
    [transitive] to cause something to be successful

    It was the children’s choir that really made the performance.

  9. 10
    [linking verb] to have the right qualities for a particular job, purpose etc

    Diane would make a good teacher – she’s so patient.

    Don’t you think the novel would make a great film?

  10. 11
    [transitive] to reach a particular place, especially so that there is time to do something

    At this rate we won’t make Jedda before midnight.

    Dan just managed to make his 7 o’clock flight to Toronto.

  11. 12
    [transitive] to succeed in achieving something by reaching the necessary level or standard

    We’ve made our target of 10,000 sales this month.

    make a deadline:

    They’ll never make the deadline now that the computers have crashed.

    make the headlines/papers/news etc (=be important enough to be reported):

    Their search for a heart donor made the headlines in April.

    make a team/squad (=be chosen for it):

    Dawson has failed to make the team for Saturday’s big match.

phrases

phrasal verbs

make after

[transitive] British
Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theymake after
he/she/itmakes after
present participlemaking after
past tensemade after
past participlemade after

make away with

[transitive]
Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theymake away with
he/she/itmakes away with
present participlemaking away with
past tensemade away with
past participlemade away with
make away with something to escape with something that you have stolen

The burglars made away with all their silverware.

make for

[transitive]
Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theymake for
he/she/itmakes for
present participlemaking for
past tensemade for
past participlemade for
  1. 1
    make for something to move towards a place

    He picked up his umbrella and made for the door.

  2. 2
    make for something to help to make something possible

    The new computers make for much greater productivity.

make into

[transitive]
Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theymake into
he/she/itmakes into
present participlemaking into
past tensemade into
past participlemade into
make someone/something into something to change someone or something so that they become something else

His first record made him into a star.

The story was made into a film two years ago.

make of

Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theymake of
he/she/itmakes of
present participlemaking of
past tensemade of
past participlemade of
  1. 1
    [transitive] make something of someone/something to use chances and opportunities in order to be successful

    This job is whatever you make of it.

    I want to make something of my new life here.

  2. 2
    [transitive] to understand someone or the meaning of something in a particular way

    I don’t know what to make of our new teacher.

    What do you make of this news?

  3. 3
    make the best of something to try to get a good result despite a bad situation

    It rained all day, but we made the best of it.

  4. 4
    make an evening/a day etc of it informal to continue doing something for a whole evening, day etc

    Let’s make an evening of it and eat out.

  5. 5
    make a go of something to try your best to make something successful

    They’re going to try to make a go of their marriage again.

  6. 6
    make the most of something to use a good situation to get the best possible result

    It’s a beautiful day today. Let’s make the most of it.

  7. 9
    make a success of something to make something be successful

    She is determined to make a success of the business.

make off

[intransitive]
Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theymake off
he/she/itmakes off
present participlemaking off
past tensemade off
past participlemade off

make off with

[transitive]
Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theymake off with
he/she/itmakes off with
present participlemaking with
past tensemade off with
past participlemade off with

make out

Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theymake out
he/she/itmakes out
present participlemaking out
past tensemade out
past participlemade out
  1. 1
    [transitive] to see, hear, or understand someone or something with difficulty

    I can just make a few words out on this page.

    I couldn’t make out what he was saying.

    Can you make out a face here on the photograph?

  2. 4
    [transitive] informal to pretend that something is true
    make out (that):

    He made out that he’d won the lottery.

make over

[transitive]
Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theymake over
he/she/itmakes over
present participlemaking over
past tensemade over
past participlemade over
  1. 1
    to officially make someone else the owner of something
    make something over to someone:

    Before he died, he made his estate over to his wife.

make towards

[transitive]
Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theymake towards
he/she/itmakes towards
present participlemaking towards
past tensemade towards
past participlemade towards
make towards someone/something to go in the direction of someone or something

I made towards the door, but he called me back.

make up

Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theymake up
he/she/itmakes up
present participlemaking up
past tensemade up
past participlemade up
  1. 2
    [transitive] to invent a story, poem etc

    They made up a little poem and wrote it in the card.

  2. 3
    [transitive] make up something to combine together to form something larger

    Women make up 40 per cent of the workforce.

    This book is made up of twelve separate short stories.

  3. 4
    [transitive] to prepare or arrange something

    I’ll get the chemist to make this prescription up for you.

    Could you make up a list of all the things we need?

    make up a bed:

    You should stay the night – I’ll make up a bed for you.

  4. 5
    [transitive] make up something to make an amount or a number complete

    I’m paying £500, and Dave is making up the rest.

  5. 6
    [intransitive] to become friendly with someone again after an argument

    Why don’t you two forget your differences and make up?

    kiss and make up:

    They argue a lot, but they always kiss and make up.

    make up with:

    Tom still hasn’t made up with Alice.

  6. 8
    [transitive] to produce something from cloth

    You could make up some new curtains from that material.

  7. 9
    [transitive] to put make-up on someones face

    They made my face up to look like a clown.

make up for

[transitive]
Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theymake up for
he/she/itmakes up for
present participlemaking up for
past tensemade up for
past participlemade up for
  1. 2
    make up for something to provide something good, so that something bad seems less important

    The good weather made up for the bad organization.

    He bought her some flowers to make up for being late.

See also  lost
 

make up to

Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theymake up to
he/she/itmakes up to
present participlemaking up to
past tensemade up to
past participlemade up to
  1. 1
    [transitive] make up to someone informal old-fashioned to behave in a very friendly way towards someone, or to praise them, in order to get something for yourself

    She’s always making up to the boss – it’s quite embarrassing.

 

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