1
as in comprising
to be all the substance of
the book is made up of 20 chapters
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in devising
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 building
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
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Recent Examples of making up
This stems from the concept of reparations in the popular consciousness being flattened to mean checks for Black people making up for the harms of slavery.
—
Chadd Scott, Forbes.com, 13 Sep. 2025
Creators making up to $400,000 a year could claim some portion of the deduction.
—Bloomberg News, Boston Herald, 13 Sep. 2025
As of Wednesday, only 70,000 Palestinians had evacuated Gaza City out of approximately one million people, a senior Israeli official said, making up less than 10% of the total population.
—Ibrahim Dahman, CNN Money, 6 Sep. 2025
Commercial deals, such as the NFL’s billion-dollar TV contracts, however, are shared—making up a large portion of the NFL’s roughly $280 million annual per-team salary cap.
—Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico.com, 5 Aug. 2025
Utility rates could rise as Kentucky LG&E and KU, together making up the state's largest utility, predict electricity demand to grow by up to 45% by 2032 compared to last year, driven mostly by data centers, the Courier Journal reports.
—Sara Chernikoff, The Courier-Journal, 5 Aug. 2025
Chadd Scott, Forbes.com, 13 Sep. 2025
Creators making up to $400,000 a year could claim some portion of the deduction.
—Bloomberg News, Boston Herald, 13 Sep. 2025
As of Wednesday, only 70,000 Palestinians had evacuated Gaza City out of approximately one million people, a senior Israeli official said, making up less than 10% of the total population.
—Ibrahim Dahman, CNN Money, 6 Sep. 2025
Commercial deals, such as the NFL’s billion-dollar TV contracts, however, are shared—making up a large portion of the NFL’s roughly $280 million annual per-team salary cap.
—Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico.com, 5 Aug. 2025
Utility rates could rise as Kentucky LG&E and KU, together making up the state's largest utility, predict electricity demand to grow by up to 45% by 2032 compared to last year, driven mostly by data centers, the Courier Journal reports.
—Sara Chernikoff, The Courier-Journal, 5 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for making up
Verb
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Ten-foot ceilings span the great room, comprising a comfortable lounge, an intimate dining area, and a chrome kitchen outfitted with Gaggenau appliances.—
Tori Latham,
Robb Report,
22 Sep. 2025
-
Most of the two thousand works comprising her collection—including those by Joseph Cornell, Philip Guston, Vija Celmins, Willem de Kooning, David Hammons, Eva Hesse, Yayoi Kusama, Ed Ruscha, Richard Serra, and Kara Walker, to name just a few—have been promised to museums.—
News Desk,
Artforum,
22 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
In devising the schedules, the conference office aimed for competitive balance, taking into account each team’s records from 2021-24 and using them to strategically place matchups.—
Seth Emerson,
New York Times,
23 Sep. 2025
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At the same time, the Justice Department is devising its own means to target anyone who opposes the President’s immigration policies.—
Jonathan Blitzer,
New Yorker,
20 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The new infrastructure aims to sustain that growth while building toward artificial general intelligence.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
22 Sep. 2025
-
Kirk, who dropped out of Harper College outside Chicago before building an $85 million-a-year nonprofit, argued that too many young people pursue degrees out of habit rather than purpose.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
22 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The difference is that composing while in motion may be a particularly useful way to address a crisis in creativity.—
Karen Palmer
September 19,
Literary Hub,
19 Sep. 2025
-
Many of the chefs are like musicians who have graduated from covering other artists’ songs to composing their own masterpieces.—
Jamila Robinson,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
16 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Orbán has long sought to consolidate his power through concocting scapegoats for Hungary’s ills.—
Christian Edwards,
CNN Money,
19 Sep. 2025
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Not only is the kitchen fully on display but a separate alcove is given over to his highly technical lab, a play space dedicated to fermentation, aging, preserving and otherwise concocting.—
Ann Abel,
Forbes.com,
2 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Contractors spent approximately $300,000 in federal funds constructing wheelchair ramps, widening hallways, lowering door handles and tearing out lower kitchen cabinets so people with wheelchairs could navigate with ease.—
Tamia Fowlkes,
jsonline.com,
17 Sep. 2025
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Optimizing these curves—constructing them in a way that maximizes the shape’s area—yields Gerver’s sofa.—
Tom Hawking,
Popular Science,
17 Sep. 2025
Verb
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When assembling his team, García made a point of recruiting creatives from outside the world of animation.—
Rafa Sales Ross,
Variety,
20 Sep. 2025
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The scene of the team assembling plays out pretty much as that lore would suggest.—
Andy Andersen,
Vulture,
19 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Finding a new cinematic language meant finding new cinematic tools, and Kelly credits collaborators like key grip Rudy Covarrubias and lens technician Dan Sasaki with inventing ingenious solutions to the movie’s myriad technical challenges.—
Jim Hemphill,
IndieWire,
19 Sep. 2025
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What does the city famous for inventing its namesake wings have in common with the city famous for, among other things, the 2005 movie starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst?—
Amanda Hancock,
Louisville Courier Journal,
17 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Making up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/making%20up. Accessed 25 Sep. 2025.
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