Word.ws English Dictionary

make a statement

make a statement verb: to implicitly communicate an idea, often through one's fashion choices.

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To implicitly communicate an idea, often through one's fashion choices.
    • As we sometimes also say about elements of fashion and etiquette, the way you use English "Makes a Statement" or "Sends a Message" — even though these Statements/Messages often have nothing to do with the actual information you're trying to transmit.2001 April, David Foster Wallace, “Tense Present: Democracy, English, and the Wars over Usage”, in Harper's Magazine
    Synonyms:
    send a message
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see make, a, statement.
    • His attorney is expected to make a statement tomorrow.

Synonyms of make a statement

Forms of make a statement

third-person singular presentmakes a statement
present participlemaking a statement
past participlemade a statement
pastmade a statement

Questions about make a statement

What does make a statement mean?
Make a statement means to implicitly communicate an idea, often through one's fashion choices.
What part of speech is make a statement?
Make a statement is a verb.
What is the past tense of make a statement?
The past tense of make a statement is made a statement.

Words near make a statement in the dictionary

  1. make a show of oneself
  2. make a silk purse of a sow's ear
  3. make a spectacle of oneself
  4. make a splash
  5. make a stand
  6. make a statement
  7. make a stick for one's own back
  8. make a stink
  9. make a time
  10. make a Virginia fence
  11. make a virtue of necessity

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: make a statement (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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