make-up

Noun

makeup (usually uncountable, plural makeups)

1. (countable, uncountable, usually) An item's composition.
   • To understand how a nuclear reactor works, we must first look at its makeup.
2. (countable, uncountable, usually) Cosmetics; colorants and other substances applied to the skin to alter its appearance.
   • She is wearing a lot of makeup.

   Synonyms:

   maquillage

3. (usually) Replacement; material used to make up for the amount that has been used up.
   • When the water level drops, the float ball drops with it and opens the valve to the makeup water supply.2005, William C. Whitman, William M. Johnson, John A. Tomczyk, Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Technology, page 1208
4. (usually) A test given to students allowing them to repeat failed material.
   • “Will I get a chance to take a makeup? My mother paid for the exam.”2020, Tayari Jones, Silver Sparrow, Oneworld Publications, page 117
5. (usually) In a NIMCRUT, an amount distributed from the trust's income in subsequent years to make up for a present shortfall.

Verb

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

1. To constitute, to compose.
   1. (transitive) To constitute the components of a whole.
      • The words "dream interpretation" […] remind one of all sorts of childish, superstitious notions, which make up the thread and woof of dream books, read by none but the ignorant and the primitive.1920, M. D. Eder, Dream Psychology, translation of original by Sigmund Freud
2. (transitive) To compensate for (a deficiency, defect, etc.); to supply (something missing).
   • He can make up the time next week.
3. (intransitive) To compensate (for).
   • What I lack in patience, I make up for in drive.
4. To invent, to imagine, to concoct
   1. To invent or fabricate (a story, claim, etc.).
      • He was a great storyteller and could make up a story on the spot.

See all 18 meanings of make up