Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
✅ To pass 💪 To survive 🌟 To become successful
to make it

to make it

377 3.2
To pass a test or be chosen in a selection
  • phrasal verb
  • /meɪk ɪt/
  • Informal
translation icon : entrar en
  • Despite the challenges, I believe we can make it through this selection process.
  • make it to the next round

It's weird how all the best players didn't make it past like the second round.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Most athletes at the high school and collegiate levels never make it to the professional ranks.

    Academic text (1994)

  • If Tom Brady can make it to the Super Bowl so can we.

    80 for Brady (2023)

  • I think I can make it work.

    Babes (2024)

  • I think we're actually gonna make it.

    Big Time Movie (2012)

  • I barely made it through school the first time.

    People Like Us (2012)

  • The students did not win the contest, but they made it to the finals.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Okay, we made it.

    The China Syndrome (1979)

  • I made it.

    A Breed Apart (1984)

  • After months of hard work, she finally made it to the finals of the competition.

  • He studied every night, and now he's hoping to make it into the prestigious university.

Synonyms

to succeed
vsto make it
846 2.0

To reach a goal after trying hard

is limited to tests or being chosen rather than general aims
to pass
vsto make it
388 1.0

To succeed in a test or exam

covers both doing well in tests and being chosen in selections
to qualify
vsto make it
264 3.0

To have or give the skills and conditions needed to join

requires actual test or selection outcome rather than mere eligibility
to make the cut
vsto make it
31 4.8

To be chosen to join a team after a test or tryout

also covers doing well in tests as well as selection outcomes
to make the grade
vsto make it
8 4.1

To reach the level needed to succeed

focuses less on standards and more on tests or selection outcomes

Antonyms

to fail
438 1.0

Not pass a test or course

to flunk
  • Informal
85 5.6

To fail an exam or class by not getting a passing grade

How Successful

win
792 1.0
to make it
  • Informal
377 3.2
to pass
388 1.0
to fail
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

make it infinitive
made it past
made it past participle
making it present participle
makes it third person singular

Morphology

make + it

The success sense of 'make it' cannot be directly computed from the literal meanings of 'make' and the pronoun 'it' because 'it' is a non-referential/dummy element and the sense is an idiomatic extension of 'make' (to achieve/reach). Cross-linguistic parallels (e.g., Spanish 'lograrlo', French 'y arriver') make the pattern somewhat guessable from context, but the specific success meaning is not fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure.

Etymology

The phrasal verb make it may come from a simple image: think of make as 'reach' and it as 'the goal', like getting through a doorway at the end of an exam. If you make it to the other side, you 'pass', so the phrase means 'to pass'.