phrasal verb · neutral
make up for
UK/meɪk ˈʌp fə(r)/US/meɪk ˈʌp fər/MAKE·up·FOR
speaking
to compensate for something bad or missing
Examples
“He bought flowers to make up for being rude.”
“Long holidays will help her make up for lost time.”
“No apology can make up for the damage done.”
Band 8 sentence
“Although nothing can fully compensate for the years he lost, he worked tirelessly to make up for them by studying late into the night.”
Collocations
- make up for lost time
- make up for a mistake
Word family
make up for (v) phrasal verb
Common mistakes
He tried to make for his mistake.→He tried to make up for his mistake.
She can compensate of the loss.→She can compensate for the loss.
Say it for a higher band
5fix→6compensate→7+make up for
Synonyms
compensate for
Easily confused
make do with
“After the flood, we had to make do with only canned food for a week.”
Related words
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