Word.ws English Dictionary

made do and mended

made do and mended is the simple past and past participle of make do and mend.

Meaning of make do and mend

Verb

make do and mend (third-person singular simple present makes do and mends, present participle making do and mending, simple past and past participle made do and mended)

  1. (UK) To follow a philosophy, during World War II, of repairing clothes etc that would normally be discarded due to shortages and rationing.
    • The 'make do and mend' campaign was the Board of Trade's central propaganda effort directed at housewives. It gave advice on preservation, renovation, and repair of clothing and other household goods.2000 Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska - Austerity in Britain: Rationing, Controls, and Consumption, 1939-1955
  2. (UK, idiomatic) Generally, to repair and reuse.
  3. (UK, idiomatic) To make the best of a situation.

Questions about made do and mended

What is made do and mended the simple past and past participle of?
Made do and mended is the simple past and past participle of make do and mend.

Words near made do and mended in the dictionary

  1. made contact with
  2. made conversation
  3. made dish
  4. made dishes
  5. made do
  6. made do and mended
  7. made down
  8. made ends meet
  9. made eyes
  10. made faces
  11. made fair weather

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: made do and mended (page history and authors); make do and mend (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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