Word.ws English Dictionary

makes up

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

Meaning of make up

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

Questions about makes up

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

Words near makes up in the dictionary

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

Source and license

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