make lemonade

verb

To make the best of a difficult situation.

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Meanings

verbmake lemonade (third-person singular simple present makes lemonade, present participle making lemonade, simple past and past participle made lemonade)

present singular third person makes lemonade · participle present making lemonade · participle past made lemonade · past made lemonade

  1. To make the best of a difficult situation.

    ... left to its own devices, the Church made lemonade by taking out ads in the Playbill.

    2021, Religion Dispatches
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see make, lemonade.

Origin

From when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

make lemonade. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/make%20lemonade

MLA

“make lemonade.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/make%20lemonade. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “make lemonade,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/make%20lemonade.

Source: make lemonade on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.