cannot make it

verb

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cannot, make it.

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Meanings

verb

alternative CMI

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cannot, make it.
  2. SingaporecolloquialidiomaticstativeCannot reach satisfactory or expected standards or do something competently; describes someone in a hopeless situation.

    A noble effort but somehow the only words that came to mind were “cannot make it, lah”.

    2006 July 20, Zul Othman, Today, quoted in Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English, Singapore: Mediacorp Press, page 37
    1 more example

    […] “it never ended preliminarily at ‘he cannot make it’, […] it was always ‘let's do this or that to help him’.”

    2023, Dan Goodley, Kuansong Victor Zhuang, Meng Ee Wong, Not Without Us: Perspectives on Disability and Inclusion in Singapore, →ISBN
Cite this entry
APA

cannot make it. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cannot%20make%20it

MLA

“cannot make it.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cannot%20make%20it. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cannot make it,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cannot%20make%20it.

Source: cannot make it on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.