to make lemonade out of lemons
1
5.0
- idiom
- Informal
:
sacar provecho de lo malo
- He's making lemonade out of lemons.
Examples
-
I'm pretty good at making lemonade out of lemons.
Blog text (5) -
Making lemonade out of lemons.
-
As if to make lemonade out of lemons, though, computer algorithms came to the rescue.
Academic text (2004) -
But Jesus, girls, make lemonade out of lemons and set a flippin' example.
Blog text (31) -
It's all about making lemonade out of lemons, and even if there's a temporary downer for the guys who get released
Blog text (34) -
When faced with unexpected challenges, she always finds a way to make lemonade out of lemons and create a positive outcome.
-
Despite the difficult circumstances, he managed to make lemonade out of lemons and turn the project into a success.
-
After losing her job, she decided to make lemonade out of lemons by starting her own business.
Synonyms
33
4.0
To make big positive changes in your life after hard times
1
6.7
To accept what you cannot change and make the best of it
Make something good from pain or a bad situation
A time when someone fails and later succeeds again
Antonyms
How Resourceful
157
3.2
- Informal
1
5.0
∞
3.5
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
make + lemonade + out + of + lemons
The literal parts ('make', 'lemonade', 'lemons') transparently suggest converting sour lemons into lemonade, so a learner who knows the words can often infer a basic sense of transforming something undesirable into something usable. However, the expression functions as a proverb/metaphor whose pragmatic generalization ('turn a negative situation into a positive one') depends on cultural knowledge and metaphorical mapping, so the meaning is not fully predictable from the parts alone.
Etymology
Make lemonade out of lemons comes from the clear image of turning sour lemons into sweet lemonade, so a bad thing becomes something useful or pleasant. That's why it means 'make the best of what you have'.