Word.ws English Dictionary

made the best of

made the best of is the simple past and past participle of make the best of.

Meaning of make the best of

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To derive what limited advantage one can (from an unpleasant outcome or situation).
    • So make the best of this test and don't ask why
      It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time1997, Green Day, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”, in Nimrod, Reprise Records
  2. (idiomatic) To use (a resource) as well as possible; to be resourceful.

Questions about made the best of

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

Words near made the best of in the dictionary

  1. made strides
  2. made sure
  3. made terms
  4. made the bald man cry
  5. made the bed
  6. made the best of
  7. made the best of a bad bargain
  8. made the best of a bad job
  9. made the best of one's way
  10. made the case for
  11. made the cheese more binding

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: made the best of (page history and authors); make the best 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 the best of.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/made_the_best_of. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.