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make
1[ meyk ]
verb (used with object)
- to bring into existence by shaping or changing material, combining parts, etc.:
to make a dress; to make a channel; to make a work of art.
Synonyms: mold, fashion, create, fabricate, produce, build, form
Antonyms: destroy
- to produce; cause to exist or happen; bring about:
to make trouble; to make war.
- to cause to be or become; render:
to make someone happy.
- to appoint or name:
The president made her his special envoy.
- to put in the proper condition or state, as for use; fix; prepare:
to make a bed; to make dinner.
- to bring into a certain form:
to make bricks out of clay.
- to convert from one state, condition, category, etc., to another:
to make a virtue of one's vices.
- to cause, induce, or compel:
to make a horse jump a barrier.
Synonyms: force
- to give rise to; occasion:
It's not worth making a fuss over such a trifle.
- to produce, earn, or win for oneself:
to make a good salary; to make one's fortune in oil.
- to write or compose:
to make a short poem for the occasion.
- to draw up, as a legal document; draft:
to make a will.
- to do; effect:
to make a bargain.
- to establish or enact; put into existence:
to make laws.
- to become by development; prove to be:
You'll make a good lawyer.
- to form in the mind, as a judgment or estimate:
to make a decision.
- to judge or interpret, as to the truth, nature, meaning, etc. (often followed by of ):
What do you make of it?
- to estimate; reckon:
to make the distance at ten miles.
- to bring together separate parts so as to produce a whole; compose; form:
to make a matched set.
- to amount to; bring up the total to:
Two plus two makes four. That makes an even dozen.
- to serve as:
to make good reading.
- to be sufficient to constitute:
One story does not make a writer.
- to be adequate or suitable for:
This wool will make a warm sweater.
- to assure the success or fortune of:
a deal that could make or break him; Seeing her made my day.
- to deliver, utter, or put forth:
to make a stirring speech.
- to go or travel at a particular speed:
to make 60 miles an hour.
- to arrive at or reach; attain:
The ship made port on Friday. Do you think he'll make 80?
- to arrive in time for:
to make the first show.
- to arrive in time to be a passenger on (a plane, boat, bus, train, etc.):
If you hurry, you can make the next flight.
- Informal. to gain or acquire a position within:
He made the big time.
- to receive mention or appear in or on:
The robbery made the front page.
- to gain recognition or honor by winning a place or being chosen for inclusion in or on:
The novel made the bestseller list. He made the all-American team three years in a row.
- Slang. to have sexual intercourse with.
- Cards.
- to name (the trump).
- to take a trick with (a card).
- Bridge. to fulfill or achieve (a contract or bid).
- to shuffle (the cards).
- to earn, as a score:
The team made 40 points in the first half.
- Slang. (especially in police and underworld use)
- to recognize or identify:
Any cop in town will make you as soon as you walk down the street.
- to charge or cause to be charged with a crime:
The police expect to make a couple of suspects soon.
- to close (an electric circuit).
- South Midland and Southern U.S. to plant and cultivate or produce (a crop):
He makes some of the best corn in the country.
verb (used without object)
- to cause oneself, or something understood, to be as specified:
to make sure.
- to show oneself to be or seem in action or behavior (usually followed by an adjective):
to make merry.
- to be made, as specified:
This fabric makes up into beautiful drapes.
- to move or proceed in a particular direction:
They made after the thief.
- to rise, as the tide or water in a ship.
- South Midland and Southern U.S. (of a crop) to grow, develop, or mature:
It looks like the corn's going to make pretty good this year.
- make down, Chiefly Pennsylvania German. to rain or snow:
It's making down hard.
- make fast, Chiefly Nautical. to fasten or secure.
- make shut, Chiefly Pennsylvania German. to close:
Make the door shut.
noun
- the style or manner in which something is made; form; build.
Synonyms: constitution, construction, structure, shape
- production with reference to the manufacturer; brand:
our own make.
- disposition; character; nature.
- the act or process of making.
- quantity made; output.
- Cards. the act of naming the trump, or the suit named as trump.
- Electricity. the closing of an electric circuit.
- Jewelry. the excellence of a polished diamond with regard to proportion, symmetry, and finish.
- Slang. identifying information about a person or thing from police records:
He radioed headquarters for a make on the car's license plate.
verb phrase
- to remodel; alter:
to make over a dress; to make over a page layout.
- to transfer the title of (property); convey:
After she retired she made over her property to her children and moved to Florida.
- Chiefly Pennsylvania German. to turn on, light, or ignite (especially a light or fire):
Make the light on.
- to write out or complete, as a bill or check.
- to establish; prove.
- to decipher; discern.
- to imply, suggest, or impute:
He made me out to be a liar.
- to manage; succeed:
How are you making out in your new job?
- Slang. to engage in kissing and caressing; neck.
- Slang. to have sexual intercourse.
- Chiefly Pennsylvania German. to turn off or extinguish (especially a light or fire):
Make the light out.
- to run away; depart hastily:
The only witness to the accident made off before the police arrived.
- Nautical. to stand off from a coast, especially a lee shore.
- to go toward; approach:
to make for home.
- to lunge at; attack.
- to help to promote or maintain:
This incident will not make for better understanding between the warring factions.
- (of parts) to constitute; compose; form.
- to put together; construct; compile.
- to concoct; invent.
- Also make up for. to compensate for; make good.
- to complete.
- to put in order; arrange:
The maid will make up the room.
- to conclude; decide.
- to settle amicably, as differences.
- to become reconciled, as after a quarrel.
- Printing. to arrange set type, illustrations, etc., into columns or pages.
- to dress in appropriate costume and apply cosmetics for a part on the stage.
- to apply cosmetics.
- to adjust or balance, as accounts; prepare, as statements.
- Education. to repeat (a course or examination that one has failed).
- Education. to take an examination that one had been unable to take when first given, usually because of absence.
- to specify and indicate the layout or arrangement of (columns, pages, etc., of matter to be printed).
- Atlantic States. (of the weather or clouds) to develop or gather:
It's making up for a storm.
- Atlantic States. (of the sea) to become turbulent:
If the sea makes up, row toward land.
- Informal. to try to become friendly with; fawn on.
- to make advances to; flirt with:
He makes up to every new woman in the office.
- to carry away; steal:
While the family was away, thieves made off with most of their valuables.
make
2[ meyk ]
noun
- a peer or equal.
- a spouse, mate, consort, or lover.
- a friend; companion.
make
1/ meɪk /
verb
- to bring into being by shaping, changing, or combining materials, ideas, etc; form or fashion; create
make a poem
to make a chair from bits of wood
- to draw up, establish, or form
make one's will
to make a decision
- to cause to exist, bring about, or produce
don't make a noise
- to cause, compel, or induce
please make him go away
- to appoint or assign, as to a rank or position
they made him chairman
- to constitute
one swallow doesn't make a summer
- also intr to come or cause to come into a specified state or condition
to make merry
make someone happy
- copula to be or become through development
he will make a good teacher
- to cause or ensure the success of
your news has made my day
- to amount to
twelve inches make a foot
- to be part of or a member of
did she make one of the party?
- to serve as or be suitable for
that piece of cloth will make a coat
- to prepare or put into a fit condition for use
to make a bed
- to be the essential element in or part of
charm makes a good salesman
- to carry out, effect, or do
to make a gesture
- intr; foll by to, as if to, or as though to to act with the intention or with a show of doing something
they made to go out
he made as if to hit her
- to use for a specified purpose
I will make this town my base
- to deliver or pronounce
to make a speech
- to judge, reckon, or give one's own opinion or information as to
what time do you make it?
- to cause to seem or represent as being
that furniture makes the room look dark
- to earn, acquire, or win for oneself
to make friends
make a fortune
- to engage in
make love not war
- to traverse or cover (distance) by travelling
we can make a hundred miles by nightfall
- to arrive in time for
he didn't make the first act of the play
- cards
- to win a trick with (a specified card)
- to shuffle (the cards)
- bridge to fulfil (a contract) by winning the necessary number of tricks
- cricket to score (runs)
- electronics to close (a circuit) permitting a flow of current Compare break
- intr to increase in depth
the water in the hold was making a foot a minute
- intr (of hay) to dry and mature
- informal.to gain a place or position on or in
make the first team
to make the headlines
- informal.to achieve the rank of
- slang.to seduce
- make a bookto take bets on a race or other contest
- make a day of itto cause an activity to last a day
- make a night of itto cause an activity to last a night
- make doSee do 1
- make eyes atto flirt with or ogle
- make goodSee good
- make heavy weathernautical to roll and pitch in heavy seas
- make heavy weather of something informal.to carry something out with great difficulty or unnecessarily great effort
- make it
- to be successful in doing something
- foll by with to have sexual intercourse
- to inject a narcotic drug
- make like slang.to imitate
- make love
- to have sexual intercourse
- to engage in courtship
- make love to someone
- to have sexual intercourse with someone
- to engage in courtship with someone
- make or breakto bring success or ruin
- make timeSee time
- make water
- another term for urinate
- (of a boat, hull, etc) to let in water
noun
- brand, type, or style
what make of car is that?
- the manner or way in which something is made
- disposition or character; make-up
- the act or process of making
- the amount or number made
- bridge the contract to be played
- cards a player's turn to shuffle
- on the make
- out for profit or conquest
- in search of a sexual partner
make
2/ meɪk /
noun
- a peer or consort
- a mate or spouse
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Derived Forms
- ˈmakable, adjective
- ˈmakeless, adjective
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Other Words From
- maka·ble adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of make1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of make1
Origin of make2
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Idioms and Phrases
- make (so) bold, to have the temerity; be so rash; dare:
May I make so bold as to suggest that you stand when they enter?
- make a play for, to try to get:
He made a play for his brother's girlfriend. They made a play for control of the company's stock.
- make away with,
- to steal:
The clerk made away with the cash and checks.
- to destroy; kill:
He made away with his enemies.
- to get rid of.
- to consume, drink, or eat completely:
The boys made away with the contents of the refrigerator.
- make believe, to pretend; imagine:
The little girl dressed in a sheet and made believe she was a ghost.
- make book, Slang.
- to take bets and give odds.
- to make a business of this.
- make colors, Nautical. to hoist an ensign, as on board a warship.
- make do, to function, manage, or operate, usually on a deprivation level with minimal requirements:
During the war we had no butter or coffee, so we had to make do without them.
- make good,
- to provide restitution or reparation for:
The bank teller made good the shortage and was given a light sentence.
- to succeed:
Talent and training are necessary to make good in some fields.
- to fulfill:
He made good on his promise.
- Navigation. to compute (a course) allowing for leeway and compass deviation.
- make heavy weather,
- Nautical. to roll and pitch in heavy seas.
- to progress laboriously; struggle, especially to struggle needlessly:
I am making heavy weather with my income tax return.
- make it so, Nautical. strike the ship's bell accordingly: said by the officer of the watch when the hour is announced.
- make it,
- Informal. to achieve a specific goal:
to make it to the train; to make it through college.
- Informal. to succeed in general:
He'll never make it in business.
- Slang. to have sexual intercourse.
- make like, Informal. to try or pretend to be like; imitate:
I'm going to go out and make like a gardener.
- make one's manners, Southern U.S.
- to perform an appropriate or expected social courtesy.
- Older Use. to bow or curtsy.
- make sail, Nautical.
- to set sails.
- to brace the yards of a ship that has been hove to in order to make headway.
- make water,
- to urinate.
- Nautical. (of a hull) to leak.
- make with, Slang.
- to operate; use:
Let's make with the feet.
- to bring about; provide or produce:
He makes with the big ideas, but can't follow through.
- make as if / as though, Informal. to act as if; pretend:
We will make as if to leave, then come back and surprise him.
- on the make, Informal.
- seeking to improve one's social or financial position, usually at the expense of others or of principle.
- increasing; advancing.
- Slang. seeking amorous or sexual relations:
The park was swarming with sailors on the make.
- put the make on, Slang. to make sexual overtures to.
- make time. time ( def 52 ).
More idioms and phrases containing make
- absence makes the heart grow fonder
- all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
- can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear
- can't make head or tail of
- kiss and make up
- many hands make light work
- might makes right
- on the make
- practice makes perfect
- put in (make) an appearance
- put the make on
- run for it, make a
- that makes two of us
- two wrongs do not make a right
- what makes one tick
- made
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Synonym Study
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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