Word.ws English Dictionary

made an example of

made an example of is the simple past and past participle of make an example of.

Meaning of make an example of

Verb

make an example of (third-person singular simple present makes an example of, present participle making an example of, simple past and past participle made an example of)

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To punish someone so as to give a warning to others; sometimes, to overpunish them for added deterrence.
    • He made an example of the drunken sailor with twenty lashes, to show that he must have a sober crew.

Questions about made an example of

What is made an example of the simple past and past participle of?
Made an example of is the simple past and past participle of make an example of.

Words near made an example of in the dictionary

  1. made an appearance
  2. made an ass of
  3. made an effort
  4. made an entrance
  5. made an errand
  6. made an example of
  7. made an exception
  8. made an exhibition of oneself
  9. made an honest woman
  10. made an impression
  11. made an offer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: made an example of (page history and authors); make an example of (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “made an example of.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/made_an_example_of. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.