Word.ws English Dictionary

making a difference

making a difference is the present participle and gerund of make a difference.

Meaning of make a difference

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To carry out an action, the result of which is a significant change, or an altered circumstance.
    • Near-synonym: move the needle
    Synonyms:
    move the needle
  2. (idiomatic, intransitive) To be of importance; to matter.
    • I don't think it makes a difference whether you come tonight or not.

Questions about making a difference

What is making a difference the present participle and gerund of?
Making a difference is the present participle and gerund of make a difference.

Words near making a difference in the dictionary

  1. making a clean break
  2. making a clean breast
  3. making a dash for it
  4. making a decision
  5. making a dent
  6. making a difference
  7. making a dollar out of fifteen cents
  8. making a face
  9. making a fist of
  10. making a fool of
  11. making a fool out of

Source and license

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