Word.ws English Dictionary

they don't make them like they used to

they don't make them like they used to is the alternative form of they don't make them like that anymore.

Meaning of they don't make them like that anymore

Phrase

they don't make them like that anymore

  1. (idiomatic) Expressing such notions as that the person referred to is excellent and that owing to the decline of society, such people have become rarer; the old school was better; the youth today lack something that previous generations had more of; all the good ones are taken; and so on.
    • A: What a guardian angel that guy was to so many people. B: Yup. They don't make them like that anymore.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see they, don't, make, them, like, that, anymore: the model of vehicle, machine, or device exemplified by the instance under discussion is no longer manufactured.
    • She's got whitewall tires and suicide doors / Under the hood, got a four-fifty-four / Well, they don't make 'em like that no more / Not since nineteen seventy-four / Big cars / Yeah, I like big cars2002, Heather Myles, “Big Cars”, in Sweet Talk and Good Lies, performed by Heather Myles

Questions about they don't make them like they used to

What is they don't make them like they used to the alternative form of?
They don't make them like they used to is the alternative form of they don't make them like that anymore.

Words near they don't make them like they used to in the dictionary

  1. thewsome
  2. thewy
  3. Thexton
  4. they
  5. they don't make them like that anymore
  6. they don't make them like they used to
  7. they hate us 'cause they ain't us
  8. they hit the Pentagon
  9. they say
  10. they should have sent a poet
  11. they'd

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: they don't make them like they used to (page history and authors); they don't make them like that anymore (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: “they don't make them like they used to.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/they_don%27t_make_them_like_they_used_to. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.