Meanings
comparative more make-do · superlative most make-do
plural make-dos
- A temporary or makeshift expedient.
Even the play-acting of destructive power is only a run-through, or make-do, for the real thing, a way of familiarizing the participants to these roles when the real thing comes along.
1980 April 12, Audre Lorde, “On The Erotic”, in Gay Community News, page 4Synonyms: band-aid, band-aid solution, bodge, cludge, fiddle, hack, hack job, jugaad
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA temporary or makeshift expedient.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Deverbal from make do.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
make-do. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/make-do
“make-do.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/make-do. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “make-do,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/make-do.
Source: make-do on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.