make

/meɪk/7 phrasal verbs

The plain verb means to create or cause.

MAKE is creation, and make up is the most overloaded phrasal verb in this catalog — it has four unrelated meanings that only context separates: invent a story, reconcile after a fight, constitute a whole, and apply cosmetics.

Keep make up apart from make out (manage to see or hear something faintly) and make up for (compensate for a failure). Adding FOR to make up changes it completely.

MAKE ends in /k/: make up is “ma-kup”, make out is “ma-kout”.

Side by side

Every MAKE phrasal verb, with the one line that keeps it apart from its siblings. Tap any one to open it.

Phrasal verb	Means	How to remember it
make upSeparable4 meanings	invent a story; reconcile; constitute; apply cosmetics	Four meanings, one form. Context is the only clue.
make up forInseparable	compensate for something you did wrong	FOR names the thing being compensated.
make outSeparable3 meanings	manage to see, hear or understand something faintly	OUT = you drag the detail out of the noise.
make itInseparable	succeed; arrive; survive	IT is fixed — never replace it with a noun.
make off withInseparable	steal something and escape	OFF WITH = you leave, carrying it.
make doNo object	manage with what is available	Fixed phrase. “Make do with less.”
make overSeparable	transform someone's appearance	OVER = redone from scratch.

Phrasal verbs with MAKE — what each one means