make do
make do — idiom
1. to use what you already have instead of getting something better, because the pr
to use what you already have instead of getting something better, because the preferred thing is not available or affordable
When the restaurant ran out of chairs, the customers made do with stools.
make do with [something available]
After Maja dropped her phone on the pavement, she made do with the cracked screen for three months until payday.
The students had no textbooks, so they made do with photocopied notes from the teacher.
Omar made do with a small tent while waiting for his furniture delivery to arrive.
Without an oven, the family made do by cooking everything on a single gas burner.
文法句型
make do with [something]
make do without [something]
make do by [verb]ing
用法筆記
Often followed by 'with' (specifying what you use) or 'without' (specifying what you lack). A common alternative pattern is 'make do by + gerund' to explain how you cope.
常見錯誤
2. to cause a person, group, or oneself to carry out a particular task or activity,
to cause a person, group, or oneself to carry out a particular task or activity, often when they would prefer not to
The sergeant made the new soldiers do fifty push-ups for arriving late to training.
causative: make + object + bare infinitive
Isabela's piano teacher made her do the same scale exercise for an entire hour.
At the hospital entrance, the guard made every visitor stop for a temperature check before going inside.
Feng made himself do thirty minutes of stretching before every morning run.
文法句型
make [someone] do [something]
make [oneself] do [something]
用法筆記
This is the general causative structure 'make + object + bare infinitive', not a fixed phrase. The object can be a person, an organisation, or a reflexive pronoun. Unlike sense 1, the verb 'make' and 'do' are separate syntactic units — there is no fixed phrase 'make do'.
常見錯誤
make do — phrase
1. to get along with whatever resources you have, managing your daily life over a p
to get along with whatever resources you have, managing your daily life over a period when the ideal amount is not available
With only a small pension, Grandma Shanti made do on rice and vegetables every day.
make do on [limited resources]
The factory made do with half its usual workforce during the three-week strike.
Henrik made do without a car for two years while saving for a better one.
After floods broke the pipes, the village made do with bottled water for a month.
文法句型
make do on [limited resources]
make do with [what is available]
用法筆記
Closely related to the first idiom sense, but this use emphasises day-to-day survival and coping over a period of time, rather than making a one-time substitution. Often appears with time expressions (for a month, for two years).
make do — adjective
1. created or used temporarily from whatever materials happen to be available, serv
created or used temporarily from whatever materials happen to be available, serving as a replacement for the proper item
The newlyweds used a large wooden crate as a make-do table in their first apartment.
attributive: make-do + [noun]
After the earthquake, volunteers built make-do shelters from plastic sheets and bamboo poles.
A towel stuffed under the door served as a make-do seal during the storm.
The team slept on make-do beds made of blankets spread over office chairs.
- makeshift
more common and widely recognised than 'make-do'
- provisional
more formal; emphasises that a permanent solution will follow
- impromptu
implies a quick, unplanned action rather than resource scarcity
文法句型
make-do + [noun]
用法筆記
Often written with a hyphen: 'make-do'. Used only attributively (before a noun), never predicatively. Compare: 'a make-do solution' is correct, but 'the solution is make-do' is not natural in English.