Meanings
plural makeunders
- A makeover in which the quality, flashiness or value of something is downgraded.
While some women need a makeover to add makeup, some women need a makeunder to take it down a notch.
2011, Coni Masciave, Beauty Rehab: Your Guide to Feel Beautiful, Sexy, and Confident in Twenty-Eight Days, Xlibris, →ISBN, page 1421 more example
The typical candidate for a makeunder is a woman who applies her makeup with too liberal a hand, styles her hair in a distracting or unattractive manner, or wears clothes that could be described as unflattering or over the top. The ideal candidate for a makeunder does all three of these simultaneously, mostly likely while upending a bottle of perfume into her cleavage.
2011 October 18, Anna Lefler, The Chicktionary: From A-line to Z-snap, the words every woman should know, Adams Media, →ISBN, page 122
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
Wordplay blend of makeover + under, replacing over with its opposite.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
makeunder. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/makeunder
“makeunder.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/makeunder. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “makeunder,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/makeunder.
Source: makeunder on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.