MAKING OUT Synonyms: 138 Similar and Opposite Words

making out

verb

present participle of make out

as in coping

to meet one's day-to-day needs we're not rich, but we're making out all right

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in knowing

to have a clear idea of I can't quite make out what she is trying to say

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in pretending

to take on a false or deceptive appearance he tried to make out that he didn't mind losing his job, but friends suspected he was desperately worried

Synonyms & Similar Words

as in deriving

to form an opinion or reach a conclusion through reasoning and information as best as I can make out, the police were informed of the incident but didn't think it was worth investigating

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of making out Ava and Shai naturally did some more making out at Charlie’s, but what did Ariana get up to? — Tom Smyth, Vulture, 3 Sep. 2026 The book has the teens making out the first night things went from friends to something more, but the show took it to another level with Bret and Debbie having sex on a lounge chair at a party. — Entertainment Weekly, 13 Aug. 2026 On the night of the Sex Purge, the streets are flooded with attractive, thin, largely heterosexual couples making out all over the place. — Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2026 This surge is driven by state funding compacts and a commitment to growing California undergraduate enrollment, making out-of-state admission increasingly competitive. — Christopher Rim, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2026 On July 1, Rodriguez and Hayden were spotted making out at Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin’s White Party, one month after his split from Jaclyn Cordeiro. — Natasha Dye, PEOPLE, 28 July 2026 The finale concluded on an uncomfortable cliffhanger between Benny and Carmen, as the former walked in on the latter making out with his crush Miles (Rish Shah), leading to an unexpected confrontation in which Benny is accidentally outed to his sister. — Natalie Oganesyan, Deadline, 6 June 2026 With commodities, when geopolitical tensions or inflation fears spike, investors often scramble for upside calls, making out-of-the-money options expensive relative to at-the-money options. — Michael Khouw, CNBC, 13 May 2026 After a few minutes, your eyes gradually adjust, and the performers, the maybe-lovers, come into view, flesh on the ground, writhing and making out and embracing. — Nate Freeman, Vanity Fair, 8 May 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for making out

Verb

But this style of parenting can actually prevent children from developing critical coping skills.

— Cheryl Maguire, Parents, 1 Sep. 2026
Credit as a coping mechanism - Rossman pushes back on the idea that Gen Z debt comes from frivolous spending.

— Andreina Rodriguez, CNBC, 1 Sep. 2026

Definition of coping

Verb

Bob Howell, executive vice president and chief sales officer at Manhattan Associates, said Boscov’s has a proud history of knowing their customers and communities.

— Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2026
There is no way of knowing whether other district court judges will rule, as Valenzuela did, on the question of funding connected to Title IX.

— Sharon Bernstein, Sacbee.com, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of knowing

Verb

In Mozart’s original, two Italian soldiers decide to test their lovers’ fidelity by pretending to head off to war.

— ABC News, ABC News, 5 Sep. 2026
Respondents questioned Dave Aranda’s roster construction, the program’s lack of identity and why everybody is pretending this isn’t a lame-duck season.

— Manny Navarro, New York Times, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of pretending

Verb

In 1995, the death of 16-year-old John Marshall, who suffered a heart attack deriving from an undiagnosed condition known as arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, proved to be a line-in-the-sand moment.

— Jordan Campbell, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2026
There's no retrieval system for reusing institutional knowledge rather than re-deriving it.

— Imran Aftab, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2026

Definition of deriving

Verb

Subsense, which has raised $27 million in funding, is currently doing preclinical work, experimenting with various elements of the technology and conducting some experiments on mice.

— Alexei Oreskovic, Fortune, 3 Sep. 2026
Now, the two men — coach and GM — are in the process of doing exactly as each promised when they were hired.

— Dan Wiederer, New York Times, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of doing

Verb

Following the analytics in this way isn’t all that different from what many media organizations do; understanding the audience is perhaps the most fundamental aspect of longevity in media.

— Max Tani, semafor.com, 2 Sep. 2026
The challenge is finding it and understanding why those earlier decisions were made.

— Beth Worthy, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2026

Definition of understanding

Verb

But almost immediately, the outbreak seemed to be bigger than the government was letting on.

— Nicholas Florko, The Atlantic, 22 July 2026
And yet based on some of its recent actions, this exec also believes Netflix’s leadership may be more concerned than it’s been letting on.

— Josef Adalian, Vulture, 16 July 2026

Definition of letting on

Verb

As a retired fighter, Taylor faces the daunting task of deciding what comes next.

— Sarah Shephard, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2026
Right to Work laws consistently rank as one of the most important factors business leaders consider when deciding which state to relocate to or expand in, creating new jobs.

— Mark Mix, Sun Sentinel, 6 Sep. 2026