make sense

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

1. idiomaticintransitiveTo be sensible, coherent, reasonable.

   The thing doesn’t make sense to me.

   4 more examples

   Somehow the combination didn’t make sense, but Cranston took it at face value, whatever that was worth.

   I was in your arms Thinking I belonged there I figured it made sense Building me a fence

   1980, ABBA, “The Winner Takes It All”

   Of course you're not coming over / Snap out of it / You're not making any sense

   2002, Frou Frou, “Psychobabble”, in Details

   Hendy has come out as something of an evangelist for discontinuous electrification. For Waterloo-Exeter, this could make real sense on a route where the high capital cost of wiring or third rail all the way to Devon would be prohibitive. But what about his vocal support for it on East West Rail, which is effectively a brand new line?

   2025 February 19, Paul Clifton, “I am absolutely committed to reforming the railway”, in RAIL, number 1029, page 41

   Synonyms: add up, figure, track, check out

2. idiomaticintransitivewith ofTo decipher or understand.

   Can you make sense of her handwriting?

   Synonyms: make head or tail of

3. informalUsed to express interest or desire in something; to be pleasing or beneficial; to work, be operative, or be advantageous to.

   Maybe we should take a break. I mean, our relationship just isn't making much sense anymore.

4. slanggenerally negatedbodybuildingTo be in the realm of the ordinary, to be not particularly developed.

   If you want to grow spinal erectors that don’t make sense, you have to do a lot of bent-over compound lifts.

   Antonyms: ridiculous, absurd