phrasal verb · neutral
make out
/meɪk ˈaʊt/MAKE·out
speaking
1) to understand or perceive; 2) to write or complete a document; 3) (informal) to kiss romantically
Examples
“I can't make out what he said because of the accent.”
“Could you make the cheque out to my name?”
“They were making out behind the cinema.”
Band 8 sentence
“Even from the back row I could just about make out the speaker's face on the screen because the lighting was so poor.”
Collocations
- make out what/that
- make out a cheque/bill
Word family
make out (v) phrasal verb
Common mistakes
I can't make about what he says.→I can't make out what he says.
Please make the bill to John.→Please make the bill out to John.
Say it for a higher band
5see→6understand→7+make out
Synonyms
discern
understand
Easily confused
make up
“He made up a story to explain why he was late.”
Related words
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