make — OET · Shobdo

make

verb

1 he makes model steam engines:

construct, build, assemble, put together, manufacture, produce, fabricate, create, form, fashion, model, mould, shape, forge, bring into existence.

▷antonyms destroy.

2 she made me drink it:

force, compel, coerce, press, drive, pressure, pressurize, oblige, require;

have someone do something, prevail on, dragoon, bludgeon, strong-arm, impel, constrain, urge, will, steamroller, browbeat, intimidate, use strong-arm tactics on, bully, hector, blackmail;

informal railroad, bulldoze, put the heat on, put the screws on, turn/tighten the screw/screws on.

3 don't make such a noise:

cause, create, give rise to, produce, bring about, generate, engender, occasion, effect, set up, establish, institute, found, develop, originate, frame;

literary beget.

4 she pirouetted and made a little bow:

perform, execute, give, do, accomplish, achieve, bring off, carry out, effect, practise, engage in, commit, act, prosecute.

5 they made him chairman:

appoint, designate, name, nominate, select, elect, vote in, install, place, post;

induct, institute, invest, ordain, assign, cast as;

detail, draft, engage, hire, employ, recruit, retain, enrol, enlist, sign up.

6 I've made a will and left you everything:

formulate, frame, draw up, devise, make out, prepare, compile, compose, put together;

draft, write, pen, produce.

7 I'm sorry, I've made a mistake:

perpetrate, commit, be responsible for, be guilty of, be to blame for;

blunder, err, trip up, put a foot wrong, nod, miscalculate;

informal slip up, bloop, make a boo-boo, blow it, foul up, goof (up);

British, informal boob, drop a clanger;

North American, informal screw up, drop the ball.

8 he had a great talent for making money:

acquire, obtain, gain, get, realize, secure, win, earn;

gross, fetch, bring in, take (in);

take home, pocket, net, clear.

▷antonyms lose.

9 he made lunch for us all | let's make some tea:

prepare, get ready, put together, concoct, cook, dish up, throw together, whip up, brew;

British, informal mash;

Northern English mast;

North American, informal fix.

10 parliament makes laws:

formulate, draw up, write, frame, draft, form, enact, pass, lay down, establish, institute, found, originate.

▷antonyms repeal.

11 that makes £100:

add up to, amount to, come to, total, count as;

British tot up to.

12 what do you make the total?:

compute, calculate, work out;

estimate, count up, determine, gauge, reckon, put a figure on, give a figure to, forecast, predict.

13 what do you make of him?:

think of/about;

appraise, evaluate, assess, size up, adjudge, look on, view, regard, consider, judge, deem;

figure (out), value, rate, think, sum up, weigh up.

14 we've got to make a decision:

reach, come to, settle on, determine on, conclude, establish, seal.

15 I've been asked to make a speech:

utter, give, deliver, give voice to, enunciate, recite, pronounce.

16 he'll make a great leader | the sofa makes a good bed:

be, act as, serve as, function as, constitute, perform the function of, do duty for, play the part of, represent, embody, form.

17 he'll make the first eleven:

gain a place in, get into, gain access to, enter;

achieve, attain.

18 he believed he could still make the night train:

catch, get, arrive/be in time for, arrive at, reach;

get to.

▷antonyms miss.

□ make as if (also make as though)

he made as if to run away:

feign, pretend, give the impression, make a show/pretence of, affect, feint, make out;

informal put it on.

□ make away with

1 he could have made away with her and dumped the body:

kill, murder, put to death, slaughter, dispatch, execute, eliminate;

informal bump off, do away with, do in, do for, knock off, take out, finish off, top, croak, stiff, liquidate, blow away;

North American, informal ice, off, rub out, smoke, waste;

literary slay.

2 they made away with the evidence:

dispose of, get rid of, destroy, throw away, jettison, ditch, dump, eliminate;

informal do away with.

□ make believe

pretend, fantasize, indulge in fantasy, daydream, build castles in the air, build castles in Spain, dream, imagine, romance, fancy, play-act, play.

□ make do

1 we have very little but we make do:

scrape by/along, get by/along, manage, cope, survive, muddle through/along, fare all right, make the best of a bad job, improvise, make ends meet, keep the wolf from the door, keep one's head above water, shift for oneself;

informal make out.

2 you'll have to make do with an old car:

make the best of, get by with/on, put to the best use, make the most of.

□ make for

1 she made for the door:

go towards, head for/towards, aim for, make one's way towards, move towards, direct one's steps towards, steer a course towards, be bound for, set out for, make a beeline for, take to.

2 constant arguing doesn't make for a happy marriage:

contribute to, be conducive to, produce, promote, facilitate, further, advance, forward, foster, favour;

formal conduce to.

□ make it

1 he never really made it as a doctor:

succeed, be successful, prosper, distinguish oneself, be a success, get ahead, make good;

informal make the grade, arrive, crack it, cut it, find a place in the sun.

2 she's very ill—is she going to make it?:

survive, come through, pull through, get better, recover, rally, recuperate.

□ make love

have sex, have sexual intercourse, go to bed (together), sleep together;

British, informal bonk, do it, make whoopee, get one's oats;

North American, informal get it on;

vulgar slang fuck, screw, shag, hump, do the business, have it away/off;

British, vulgar slang knob, roger;

formal copulate, fornicate;

dated couple.

□ make off

on seeing the police they made off:

run away/off, take to one's heels, beat a hasty retreat, flee, make one's getaway, make a quick exit, make a run for it, run for it, take off, take flight, bolt, fly, make oneself scarce, leave, abscond, decamp, do a disappearing act;

informal clear off/out, beat it, do a runner, make tracks, cut and run, skedaddle, vamoose, hightail it, hotfoot it, show a clean pair of heels, fly the coop, split, scoot, scram;

British, informal scarper, have it away (on one's toes), leg it;

North American, informal light out, bug out, cut out, peel out, take a powder;

British, informal , dated hook it.

▷antonyms turn up.

□ make off with

burglars made off with all the wedding presents:

take, steal, purloin, pilfer, abscond with, appropriate, run away/off with, carry off, snatch;

kidnap, abduct;

informal walk away/off with, swipe, filch, snaffle, nab, lift, liberate, snitch;

British, informal pinch, half-inch, nick, whip, knock off, nobble, bone;

North American, informal heist, glom;

Australian, informal snavel;

West Indian, informal tief;

archaic crib, hook.

□ make out

1 how did you make out?:

get on, get along, fare, do, proceed, go, progress, manage, survive, cope, get by.

2 North American, informal they were making out on the sofa:

kiss and cuddle, caress, French kiss, pet, engage in heavy petting;

make love, have sex, have sexual intercourse;

informal canoodle, neck, smooch;

British, informal snog, bonk, do it, make whoopee, get one's oats;

North American, informal get it on;

vulgar slang fuck, screw, hump, do the business, have it away/off;

British, vulgar slang roger;

informal , dated spoon, couple;

formal copulate, fornicate.

□ make something out

1 I could just make out a figure in the distance:

see, discern, distinguish, perceive, pick out, detect, notice, observe, recognize, catch sight of, glimpse, discover;

literary descry, espy, behold.

2 he couldn't make out what she was saying:

understand, comprehend, follow, grasp, fathom, work out, figure out, make sense of, interpret, decipher, make head or tail of, get, get the drift of, catch;

British, informal suss out.

3 she made out that he was violent:

allege, claim, assert, declare, maintain, affirm, aver, suggest, imply, hint, insinuate, indicate, intimate, impute, make as if/though, pretend.

4 how do you make that out?:

demonstrate, show to be true, establish, substantiate, prove, verify, validate, authenticate, corroborate.

5 he made out a receipt for $20:

write out, fill out, fill in, complete, draw up, draft, inscribe.

□ make something over to someone

he made over the whole property to his son:

transfer, sign over, turn over, hand over, hand on, give, hand down, leave, bequeath, bestow, pass on, devolve, transmit, cede, deliver, assign, consign, convey, entrust.

□ make up

come now, pet, let's kiss and make up:

be friends again, bury the hatchet, declare a truce, make peace, forgive and forget, shake hands, become reconciled, settle one's differences, mend fences, call it quits.

▷antonyms quarrel.

□ make something up

1 women make up 56 per cent of the student body:

comprise, form, compose, constitute, account for.

2 he brought a friend with him to make up a foursome:

complete, round off, finish.

3 the pharmacist made up the prescription:

prepare, mix, concoct, put together.

4 I'll have to make up an excuse:

invent, fabricate, concoct, dream up, think up, hatch, trump up;

devise, manufacture, formulate, frame, construct, coin;

informal cook up.

5 she made up her face carefully:

apply make-up/cosmetics to, powder, rouge;

(make oneself up) informal put on one's face, do one's face, paint one's face, tart oneself up, do oneself up, apply one's warpaint, doll oneself up.

□ make up for

1 she tried to make up for what she'd said earlier:

atone for, make amends for, compensate for, make recompense for, make reparation for, make redress for, make restitution for, expiate;

formal requite.

2 hard work can more than make up for a lack of intellectual brilliance:

offset, counterbalance, counterweigh, counteract, compensate for;

balance, neutralize, cancel out, even up, redeem.

□ make up one's mind

stop dithering and make up your mind:

decide, be decisive, come to a decision, make a decision, reach a decision;

determine, resolve, settle on a plan of action, come to a conclusion, reach a conclusion.

□ make up to

informal

she spent the whole evening making up to Adam:

flirt with, chase after, run after, pursue, make romantic advances to, court, woo;

informal chat up, make eyes at, make sheep's eyes at, give the come-on to, come on to, be all over, vamp;

dated set one's cap at.

□ make way

please make way for the king:

move aside, clear the way, make a space, make room, stand back;

allow to pass, allow through.

noun

1 a different make of car:

brand, marque, model, mark, sort, type, kind, variety, style, label.

2 a man of a different make from his brother:

character, nature, temperament, temper, disposition, cast/turn of mind, humour, make-up, kidney, mould, stamp.

□ on the makeinformal

everyone is on the make, especially the children:

ambitious, aspiring, determined, forceful, pushy, enterprising, pioneering, progressive, eager, motivated, enthusiastic, energetic, zealous, committed, go-ahead, go-getting, purposeful, assertive, aggressive, hungry, power-hungry.

word links	make
-facient, -faction, -fic, -genic suffixes meaning 'making or causing …', as in abortifacient, liquefaction, soporific, hallucinogenic

make Oxford Dictionary of English