Word.ws English Dictionary

make up for lost time

make up for lost time verb: to do something that should have been done earlier but was not, especially when done with energy or enthusiasm.

Verb

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

  1. to do something that should have been done earlier but was not, especially when done with energy or enthusiasm.

Forms of make up for lost time

third-person singular presentmakes up for lost time
present participlemaking up for lost time
past participlemade up for lost time
pastmade up for lost time

Origin of make up for lost time

From make up for and lose time.

Questions about make up for lost time

What does make up for lost time mean?
Make up for lost time means to do something that should have been done earlier but was not, especially when done with energy or enthusiasm.
What part of speech is make up for lost time?
Make up for lost time is a verb.
What is the past tense of make up for lost time?
The past tense of make up for lost time is made up for lost time.

Words near make up for lost time in the dictionary

  1. make to stock
  2. make tracks
  3. make tracks for
  4. make trial of
  5. make up
  6. make up for lost time
  7. make up one's mind
  8. make up the numbers
  9. make up to
  10. make use
  11. make vintage

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: make up for lost time (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “make up for lost time.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/make_up_for_lost_time. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.