1Something put on a scale to make up the required weight.

1. 1.1 An extra person or thing that is only added or included in order to complete something.
   use it for casserole toppings or makeweight in meatloaf

   this suggestion was thrown in as a makeweight

   Example sentencesExamples

   • I've done a deal for John Middleton and you're going to Forest as a makeweight.
   • Samuel Eto'o had also been mentioned as a possible makeweight in any deal for Owen but he is determined to join Barcelona.
   • The thing is that it is not as if we have five strong players with four makeweights.
   • The idea is that he will be used as a makeweight in a deal to get one of their prisoners back.
   • The three concertos added as makeweight were recorded in 1982-83.
   • France, after the shock of defeat by Prussia in the war of 1870-1, began to look to its cultural achievements as a makeweight to military failure.
   • The only way he would join a bigger side is if he was used as a makeweight in a transfer deal.
   • In search of much-needed cohesion in the second half, Benitez sent on Antonio Nunez, the winger who was a makeweight in the deal that took Michael Owen to Real Madrid.
   • This came a mere two weeks after Smith was brought to Tayside by Duffy as the makeweight in a £600,000 deal which took Morten Wieghorst to Celtic Park.
   • Da Capo place the Second Symphony last on disc thus leaving Nielsen's refreshing thoughts on man's four temperaments as a thoughtful makeweight.
   • The Mozart ‘Haffner,’ which serves as a makeweight for Bruckner's Fifth, was recorded in 1976.
   • The interviews are moderately interesting - the composers discuss their earliest musical experiences and the background to their featured works - but they are clearly makeweights.
   • Glazunov's Reverie was the original makeweight for the fourth side of the Mozart set.
   • The message from Thistle, though, is they are not makeweights in this Premierleague.
   • It has been mooted, though, that Rangers defender Michael Ball could be a makeweight to ensure the deal looks good on paper for all sides.
   • Hedman filled a void created by Dmitri Kharine's summer contract expiry but the Sweden international is not expected to be just a squad makeweight.
   • Disc two's round-up of singles hints at last-minute doubts about disc one: doubts that, two or three makeweights aside, are unjustified.
   • Tiny ivory fans were put into tea chests as makeweights and we all associate white ostrich feather with presentation at court.
   • In addition, Graille said United also offered keeper Fabien Barthez as a makeweight during early talks over Ronaldinho's future.
   • And the Wildcats are believed to have targeted promising young loose forward Jamie Langley as a makeweight in any deal.