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Glite Dictionary
to make it up to

to make it up to

161 3.5
Do something kind for someone to show you are sorry for making them unhappy
  • phrasal verb
  • /meɪk ɪt ʌp tu/
translation icon : compensar a
  • I feel really bad about that mistake, but I'd like to make it up to you by treating you to dinner.
  • want to make it up to
  • let me make it up to
  • try to make it up to

Almost every situation with a customer is saveable if you go back and make it up to them.

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Examples

  • But Andy, I want to make it up to you.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Let me make it up to you.

    Shallow Hal (2001)

  • And next Monday, to make it up to you, we're going to do the whole thing again, start to finish.

    Late Night with Seth Meyers

  • But I am going to try to make it up to you.

    The Princess Diaries (2001)

  • I wanted to make it up to you.

    The Cable Guy (1996)

  • You wanna make it up to me?

    Striptease (1996)

  • But, uh... if I had a second chance... I would make it up to her.

    The Killer (2024)

  • I felt bad about the other night, so I wanted to make it up to you.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • And I want to try to make it up to you.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Maybe he could make it up to her by finding her a better building for her shop.

    Fiction book (1998)

Synonyms

to make up
vsto make it up to
252 2.8

Do work you missed to catch up

focuses on showing regret through a goodwill action rather than only replacing loss
to make amends
vsto make it up to
55 3.4

To do something to fix a mistake and show you are sorry

is about apologizing by doing a kind action after a failure
to atone
vsto make it up to
26 6.2

Say or do something to show you are sorry and fix a wrong

is the same apologetic act but in more everyday, less solemn ways

Antonyms

to disappoint
492 1.0

Fail to do what someone hoped for

to let down
210 2.9

Make someone feel disappointed by not doing what you promised

How Apologetic

to atone
26 6.2
to make it up to
161 3.5
to apologize
  • US
∞ 1.7

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

make + it + up + to

The sense 'to do something good for someone to show you are sorry' is partially inferable from 'make' (to do/produce) together with the phrasal pattern 'make up (to someone)' where 'up to' signals a directed or completed action, so learners might guess it involves doing something directed at someone. However, the specific compensatory/atoning meaning and the role of 'it' are idiomatic and not fully predictable from the parts without prior exposure, so it is not fully transparent.

Etymology

Make it up to gives a simple picture: you have done something wrong, so you make things 'up' to the other person by doing a kind action or a gift to fix the problem. So, it means 'to do something good for someone because you are sorry'.