Word.ws English Dictionary

making the best of

making the best of is the present participle and gerund of make the best of.

Meaning of make the best of

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To derive what limited advantage one can (from an unpleasant outcome or situation).
    • So make the best of this test and don't ask why
      It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time1997, Green Day, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”, in Nimrod, Reprise Records
  2. (idiomatic) To use (a resource) as well as possible; to be resourceful.

Questions about making the best of

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

Words near making the best of in the dictionary

  1. making strides
  2. making sure
  3. making terms
  4. making the bald man cry
  5. making the bed
  6. making the best of
  7. making the best of a bad bargain
  8. making the best of a bad job
  9. making the best of one's way
  10. making the case for
  11. making the cheese more binding

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: making the best of (page history and authors); make the best of (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 the best of.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/making_the_best_of. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.