make up for sth
— phrasal verb with make uk/meɪk/us/meɪk/verb made, made
B2 to take the place of something lost or damaged or to compensate for something bad with something good:
No amount of money can make up for the death of a child.
This year's good harvest will make up for last year's bad one.
[ + -ing verb ] He bought me dinner to make up for being so late the day before.
More examples
- She gave him a bottle of wine to make up for missing his birthday.
- I worked extra hours to make up for the time I had missed.
- You need to do something to make up for your rudeness.
- How can I ever make up for the pain I caused them?
- I'm taking extra lessons to make up for the time I missed.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Replacing and exchanging
- alternate
- alternatively
- bargain sth away
- change over
- change places idiom
- fill
- part exchange
- pinch-hit
- pre-empt
- proxy
- refill
- rep
- represent
- reserve
- sit
- succeed
- succession
- supersede
- supplant
- swap
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