Word.ws English Dictionary

makes do

makes do is the third-person singular simple present indicative of make do.

Meaning of make do

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, informal, intransitive) To survive, get by (with), or use whatever is available (due to lack of resources).
    • There is barely enough money, so we will have to make do with what we have.
  2. (informal, transitive) To put into action.
    • Make the movie do! (Put on the movie!)
  3. (informal, transitive) To use for one's purpose something worn, defective, or intended for another purpose.
    • A poor screw-driver is one of the most exasperating of poor tools, and a trial to one's patience and temper; besides, it is of little use attempting to "make it do," for it seldom will do.1902, Lina Beard with Adelia Belle Beard, What a girl can make and do: new ideas for work and play, page 7

Questions about makes do

What is makes do the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Makes do is the third-person singular simple present indicative of make do.

Words near makes do in the dictionary

  1. makes capital out of
  2. makes certain
  3. makes common cause
  4. makes contact with
  5. makes conversation
  6. makes do
  7. makes do and mends
  8. makes down
  9. makes ends meet
  10. makes eyes
  11. makes faces

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: makes do (page history and authors); make do (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: “makes do.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/makes_do. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.