as in fictitious
not real and existing only in the imagination
the bogeyman was one of those made-up monsters whose sole purpose was to threaten children
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in comprised
to be all the substance of
the book is made up of 20 chapters
Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in devised
to create or think of by clever use of the imagination
she keeps making up excuses as to why she hasn't yet finished the project
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in built
to form by putting together parts or materials
we'll have to make up the bookcase, which came in a box marked "some assembly required"
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of made-up
Kevin Brazil,
Harpers Magazine,
9 June 2026
The photos that flooded the internet amidst the Jenner-Levine hype featured Jenner in Paris (not her surgeon’s NYC office), professionally made-up, often wearing large sunglasses, and often filtered.
—
Jolene Edgar,
Allure,
17 Apr. 2026
During his interview, Newsom spoke about his ongoing and very public feud with Trump, who received the inaugural (and made-up) FIFA Peace Prize in December.
—
Emily Zemler,
Rolling Stone,
4 Mar. 2026
Cook said his team detected a variety of age manipulation: synthetic fraud, in which real, stolen and made-up information is used to create a new identity; identity fraud; and document fraud.
—
Nick Penzenstadler,
USA Today,
13 Feb. 2026
That story was 100 percent insane and made-up, and not a word of it is true.
—
Mekishana Pierre,
Entertainment Weekly,
6 Feb. 2026
Vietnam had an imaginary Gulf of Tonkin attack; Trump has made-up drug cartels.
—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
14 Jan. 2026
And there's not one right way to do it, considering the holiday is made-up and the real thing is just around the corner.
—
Rachel Treisman,
NPR,
19 Nov. 2025
And while OpenAI’s defenders could chalk that up to an isolated or even made-up incident, within 24 hours of the GPT-5 launch Altman was doing damage control, seemingly caught of guard by the bad reception.
—
Allison Morrow,
CNN Money,
14 Aug. 2025
Jeffrey Steele,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2026
Currently, over 80% of the luxury market’s value is made up by brands who sponsored sports in the last year.
—
Joe Bobowicz,
Vogue,
25 June 2026
Though the show's storyline is fictional, the revelation at its center isn't completely made up.
—
Brendan Morrow,
USA Today,
18 June 2026
Up to 60% of the human brain is made up of lipids, or fats.
—
Sandee Lamotte,
CNN Money,
18 June 2026
The game between the Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants scheduled for Thursday night was postponed due to rain and will be made up in August.
—
CBS News,
18 June 2026
While the room was compact in size, the plush, cloud-like double beds and iconic views more than made up for any lost space.
—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
11 June 2026
The wind was chilly, but the sun made up for it.
—
Literary Hub,
11 June 2026
And Teresa and Melissa have actually made up.
—
Kate Aurthur,
Variety,
11 June 2026
Adjective
Parts would be missing, or made-up.
—
Kevin Brazil,
Harpers Magazine,
9 June 2026
The photos that flooded the internet amidst the Jenner-Levine hype featured Jenner in Paris (not her surgeon’s NYC office), professionally made-up, often wearing large sunglasses, and often filtered.
—
Jolene Edgar,
Allure,
17 Apr. 2026
During his interview, Newsom spoke about his ongoing and very public feud with Trump, who received the inaugural (and made-up) FIFA Peace Prize in December.
—
Emily Zemler,
Rolling Stone,
4 Mar. 2026
Cook said his team detected a variety of age manipulation: synthetic fraud, in which real, stolen and made-up information is used to create a new identity; identity fraud; and document fraud.
—
Nick Penzenstadler,
USA Today,
13 Feb. 2026
That story was 100 percent insane and made-up, and not a word of it is true.
—
Mekishana Pierre,
Entertainment Weekly,
6 Feb. 2026
Vietnam had an imaginary Gulf of Tonkin attack; Trump has made-up drug cartels.
—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
14 Jan. 2026
And there's not one right way to do it, considering the holiday is made-up and the real thing is just around the corner.
—
Rachel Treisman,
NPR,
19 Nov. 2025
And while OpenAI’s defenders could chalk that up to an isolated or even made-up incident, within 24 hours of the GPT-5 launch Altman was doing damage control, seemingly caught of guard by the bad reception.
—
Allison Morrow,
CNN Money,
14 Aug. 2025
Verb
Meanwhile, two- to four-unit rental buildings that made up the preponderance of affordable housing for families in these areas have been lost to blight and disinvestment.
—
Jeffrey Steele,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2026
Currently, over 80% of the luxury market’s value is made up by brands who sponsored sports in the last year.
—
Joe Bobowicz,
Vogue,
25 June 2026
Though the show's storyline is fictional, the revelation at its center isn't completely made up.
—
Brendan Morrow,
USA Today,
18 June 2026
Up to 60% of the human brain is made up of lipids, or fats.
—
Sandee Lamotte,
CNN Money,
18 June 2026
The game between the Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants scheduled for Thursday night was postponed due to rain and will be made up in August.
—
CBS News,
18 June 2026
While the room was compact in size, the plush, cloud-like double beds and iconic views more than made up for any lost space.
—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
11 June 2026
The wind was chilly, but the sun made up for it.
—
Literary Hub,
11 June 2026
And Teresa and Melissa have actually made up.
—
Kate Aurthur,
Variety,
11 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for made-up
Adjective
-
The book traces the fictitious Yeoman family’s evolution over generations from self-sufficient homesteaders to participants in global markets.
-
Hosting its usual presentation at its headquarters, located a stone’s throw from San Babila square, the brand installed video walls that broadcast a fictitious runway show created with the help of AI.
Verb
-
The president of the European Council, comprised of member states’ governments, defended his decision to open diplomatic communications with the Kremlin after the leaders of France and Germany criticized the decision.
-
Arabs and Jews are treated in the same hospitals (in the same wards and rooms) by medical staff comprised of Arabs and Jews.
Verb
-
There’s everything from herbals like rhubarb and nettle to green teas and Fortnum’s own signature blends, like Wedding Breakfast or Jubilee, devised in honor of the Queen’s Diamond celebrations in 2012.
-
In addition to removing the commission’s direct authority over the chief job, Houston — who devised his proposal with Council President Kevin Jenkins — sought to eliminate a selection panel that appoints four of the commission’s members, allowing the council to handpick them instead.
Verb
-
That trust is built through a track record of decisions that prioritize things like player health.
-
Because Swift has no docking ports or grappling fixtures to grab onto, Katalyst built its 880-pound, 5-foot tall LINK spacecraft with a custom robotic capture mechanism that will attach to a feature on the satellite’s main structure.
Adjective
-
In an age of visual and underground detection, why am I delayed at a traffic signal waiting for an imaginary vehicle to enter the intersection?
-
And what’s a novelist but a fence, furnishing imaginary scenes with choice pieces of reality while obscuring their provenance?
Verb
-
If interruptions throw you off, step away briefly and return composed.
-
For the memorial game, the Feeneys had reverted to their old batting order, so after Greenberg, the lineup would be wholly composed of Feeney elders.
Verb
-
In the one that opens the film, Forky (Tony Hale), the googly-eyed spork, marries a plastic knife called Karen Beverly (Melissa Villaseñor), a name so perfectly unmelodious that only a kid, or an adult exceptionally good at thinking like one, could have concocted it.
-
Every detail is accurate, though the picture as a whole is an invention, concocted from multiple views, locations, and studies.
Verb
-
Haiti’s first was well constructed.
-
Once the model is built, it can be used to take a scene constructed by artists and tweak it, making the physics look realistic — not by modeling the physics, but by guessing at them based on absorbing an incredibly large dataset of real-world footage.
Cite this Entry
“Made-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/made-up. Accessed 28 Jun. 2026.
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