Word.ws English Dictionary

make up the numbers

make up the numbers verb: to provide sufficient people to make an event worthwhile.

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To provide sufficient people to make an event worthwhile.
    • We need eleven players, but we are only nine. Can you help us make up the numbers?

Forms of make up the numbers

third-person singular presentmakes up the numbers
present participlemaking up the numbers
past participlemade up the numbers
pastmade up the numbers

Questions about make up the numbers

What does make up the numbers mean?
Make up the numbers means to provide sufficient people to make an event worthwhile.
What part of speech is make up the numbers?
Make up the numbers is a verb.
What is the past tense of make up the numbers?
The past tense of make up the numbers is made up the numbers.

Words near make up the numbers in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: make up the numbers (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-make up the numbers.ogg.

Cite this entry: “make up the numbers.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/make_up_the_numbers. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.