Macmillan Dictionary

Did you know?

Click any word in a definition or example to find the entry for that word

make of

 - definition
Close

What are red words?

90% of the time, speakers of English use just 7,500 words in speech and writing. These words appear in red, and are graded with stars. One-star words are frequent, two-star words are more frequent, and three-star words are the most frequent.

Close

Thesaurus

The thesaurus of synonyms and related words is fully integrated into the dictionary entries. Click on the T button in an entry to review the synonyms and related words for that meaning.

more
phrasal verb
Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theymake of
he/she/itmakes of
present participlemaking of
past tensemade of
past participlemade of
Other entries for this word
  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.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of make of
  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?

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of make of
  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.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of make of
  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.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of make of
  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.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of make of
  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.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of make of
  7. 7
    make much of something to give a lot of importance to something

    The press made much of the fact that he was the Prime Minister's son.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of make of
  8. 8
    make something of it spoken to be prepared to fight or argue about something

    Do you want to make something of it?

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of make of
  9. 9
    make a success of something to make something be successful

    She is determined to make a success of the business.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of make of

This is the British English definition of make of. View American English definition of make of.

Change your default dictionary and thesaurus to American English.

 
See also main entry: make

charticle

a news article that consists of a chart … and only has a small amount of text

BuzzWord Article

Word of the Day

picture messaging

the sending of images and photographs from one mobile phone to another

Open Dictionary

never event

an event that should never occur in a healthcare setting …

add a word

Blog

A must for anyone with an interest in the changing face of language. The Macmillan Dictionary blog explores English as it is spoken around the world today.

global English and language change from our blog