to make (someone) feel better
329
1.5
- phrasal verb
- /meɪk ˈsʌmˌwʌn fil ˈbɛtər/
:
consolar
- After the argument, she gave him a hug to make him feel better.
- make people feel better
- make students feel better
Examples
-
I do believe that the drug, at least for a few weeks, makes some AIDS patients feel better.
Academic text (1993) -
- That'll make you feel better.
-
Is this supposed to make me feel better?
-
I think it made him feel better.
-
Is that going to make you feel better or worse about this process?
Fiction book (1993) -
I told my daughter, 'Somehow we're going to make you feel better. We're going to do whatever it takes.'
Academic text (2008) -
"I talk to myself under the pillow, and it makes me feel better; I calm down."
Academic text (2003) -
I got you something that's gonna make you feel a whole lot better.
-
I've got something that might make you feel better.
-
Silly as it sounded, this one request made him feel better about the whole semester.
Fiction book (1996)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To make a task or situation easier for someone
392
1.0
To make someone feel happier
234
1.4
To feel happier after being sad or to make someone feel happier
172
1.0
To make someone feel less upset or in pain
63
3.4
To make someone feel calmer or reduce their pain
54
1.0
Cause someone to feel happy or amused
23
3.2
To make someone feel happier and more hopeful
13
5.5
Make someone feel happier or more confident
12
2.3
To make someone feel happy
8
2.8
To make someone feel happier or more cheerful
8
3.9
To make someone feel happier
1
3.9
To make someone feel happier when they are sad
1
3.4
Help someone feel happier
Antonyms
How Improved
549
2.4
481
1.2
329
1.5
172
1.0
- Informal
234
1.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
make + (someone) + feel + better
The meaning is fully compositional: 'make' = cause, 'feel' = experience a sensation or emotion, and 'better' = improved. A B1 learner who knows these constituents can directly infer 'cause someone to feel improved' (emotionally or physically); the pattern is common across languages and not idiomatic.
Etymology
Make (someone) feel better paints a simple picture: you make a person feel better by doing something kind—giving tea, a hug, or medicine to help them recover. So the phrase came to mean 'to improve someone's mood or health'.