MAKE


Meaning of MAKE in English

I. CARRYING OUT AN ACTION

(~s, making, made)

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.

Note: 'Make' is used in a large number of expressions which are explained under other words in this dictionary. For example, the expression ‘to ~ sense’ is explained at ‘sense’.

1.

You can use ~ with a wide range of nouns to indicate that someone performs an action or says something. For example, if you ~ a suggestion, you suggest something.

I’d just like to ~ a comment...

I made a few phone calls...

I think you’re making a serious mistake...

VERB: V n, V n, V n

2.

You can use ~ with certain nouns to indicate that someone does something well or badly. For example, if you ~ a success of something, you do it successfully, and if you ~ a mess of something, you do it very badly.

Apparently he made a mess of his audition...

Are you really going to ~ a better job of it this time?

VERB: V n of n, V n of n

3.

If you ~ as if to do something or ~ to do something, you behave in a way that ~s it seem that you are just about to do it. (WRITTEN)

Mary made as if to protest, then hesitated...

He made to chase Davey, who ran back laughing.

VERB: V as if to-inf, V to-inf

4.

In cricket, if a player ~s a particular number of runs, they score that number of runs. In baseball or American football, if a player ~s a particular score, they achieve that score.

He made 1,972 runs for the county.

= score

VERB: V amount

5.

If you ~ do with something, you use or have it instead of something else that you do not have, although it is not as good.

Why ~ do with a copy if you can afford the genuine article?...

PHRASE: ~ inflects, oft PHR with n

6.

If you ~ like you are doing something, you act as if you are doing it, and if you ~ like someone, you act as if you are that person. (INFORMAL)

Bob ~s like he’s a fish blowing bubbles.

PHRASE: V inflects, PHR cl, PHR n

II. CAUSING OR CHANGING

(~s, making, made)

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.

Please look at category 11 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.

1.

If something ~s you do something, it causes you to do it.

Grit from the highway made him cough...

I was made to feel guilty and irresponsible.

VERB: V n inf, be V-ed to-inf

2.

If you ~ someone do something, you force them to do it.

You can’t ~ me do anything...

They were made to pay $8.8 million in taxes.

VERB: V n inf, be V-ed to-inf

3.

You use ~ to talk about causing someone or something to be a particular thing or to have a particular quality. For example, to ~ someone a star means to cause them to become a star, and to ~ someone angry means to cause them to become angry.

...James Bond, the role that made him a star...

She made life very difficult for me...

She’s made it obvious that she’s appalled by me...

Rationing has made it easier to find some products like eggs, butter and meat...

Does your film ~ a hero of Jim Garrison?

VERB: V n n, V n adj, V it adj that, V it adj to-inf, V n of n

4.

If you say that one thing or person ~s another seem, for example, small, stupid, or good, you mean that they cause them to seem small, stupid, or good in comparison, even though they are not.

They live in fantasy worlds which ~ Euro Disney seem uninventive...

VERB: V n inf adj/prep/n

5.

If you ~ yourself understood, heard, or known, you succeed in getting people to understand you, hear you, or know that you are there.

Aron couldn’t speak Polish. I made myself understood with difficulty...

VERB: V pron-refl -ed

6.

If you ~ someone something, you appoint them to a particular job, role, or position.

Mr Blair made him transport minister...

VERB: V n n

7.

If you ~ something into something else, you change it in some way so that it becomes that other thing.

We made it into a beautiful home...

VERB: V n into n

8.

To ~ a total or score a particular amount means to increase it to that amount.

This ~s the total cost of the bulb and energy ?27...

VERB: V n amount

9.

When someone ~s a friend or an enemy, someone becomes their friend or their enemy, often because of a particular thing they have done.

Lorenzo was a natural leader who made friends easily...

He was unruly in class and made an enemy of most of his teachers.

VERB: V n, V n of n

10.

If someone ~s something of themselves or ~s something of their life, they become successful.

My father lived long enough to see that I’d made something of myself...

The nuns who taught him urged him to ~ something of his life and he did.

PHRASE: V inflects

11.

to ~ friends: see friend

III. CREATING OR PRODUCING

(~s, making, made)

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.

1.

To ~ something means to produce, construct, or create it.

She made her own bread...

Having curtains made professionally can be costly...

They ~ compost out of all kinds of waste.

VERB: V n, have n V-ed, V n from/out of n

2.

If you ~ a note or list, you write something down in that form.

Mr Perry made a note in his book...

Make a list of your questions beforehand.

= write

VERB: V n, V n

3.

If you ~ rules or laws, you decide what these should be.

The police don’t ~ the laws, they merely enforce them...

VERB: V n

4.

If you ~ money, you get it by working for it, by selling something, or by winning it.

I think every business’s goal is to ~ money...

Can it be moral to ~ so much money out of a commodity which is essential to life?

VERB: V n, V n out of/from n

5.

If something ~s something else, it is responsible for the success of that thing.

What really ~s the book are the beautiful designs.

VERB: V n

6.

The ~ of something such as a car or radio is the name of the company that made it.

...a certain ~ of wristwatch.

= brand

N-COUNT: supp N, N of n

7.

If you say that someone is on the ~, you disapprove of them because they are trying to get a lot of money or power, possibly by illegal or immoral methods.

PHRASE: v-link PHR disapproval

IV. LINK VERB USES

(~s, making, made)

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.

1.

You can use ~ to say that someone or something has the right qualities for a particular task or role. For example, if you say that someone will ~ a good politician, you mean that they have the right qualities to be a good politician.

You’ve a very good idea there. It will ~ a good book...

I’m very fond of Maurice and I’d ~ him a good wife.

V-LINK: V n, V n n

2.

If people ~ a particular pattern such as a line or a circle, they arrange themselves in this way.

A group of people made a circle around the Pentagon.

= form

V-LINK: V n

3.

You can use ~ to say what two numbers add up to.

Four twos ~ eight...

V-LINK: V amount

V. ACHIEVING OR REACHING

(~s, making, made)

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.

1.

If someone ~s a particular team or ~s a particular high position, they do so well that they are put in that team or get that position.

The athletes are just happy to ~ the British team...

He knew he was never going to ~ director.

VERB: V n, V n

2.

If you ~ a place in or by a particular time, you get there in or by that time, often with some difficulty.

They were trying to ~ New Orleans by nightfall.

VERB: V n prep

3.

If you ~ it somewhere, you succeed in getting there, especially in time to do something.

...the hostages who never made it home...

I just made it!

PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR prep/adv

4.

If you ~ it, you are successful in achieving something difficult, or in surviving through a very difficult period.

I believe I have the talent to ~ it...

PHRASE: V inflects

5.

If you cannot ~ it, you are unable to attend an event that you have been invited to.

He hadn’t been able to ~ it to our dinner.

PHRASE: V inflects, usu with brd-neg, oft PHR to n

VI. STATING AN AMOUNT OR TIME

(~s, making, made)

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.

1.

You use ~ it when saying what you calculate or guess an amount to be.

All I want to know is how many T-shirts Jim Martin has got. I ~ it three...

VERB: V it amount

2.

You use ~ it when saying what time your watch says it is.

I ~ it nearly 9.30...

‘What time d’you ~ it?’—‘Thirteen past.’

VERB: V it n, V it n, also V n n

Collins COBUILD.      Толковый словарь английского языка для изучающих язык Коллинз COBUILD (международная база данных языков Бирмингемского университета) .