make way
Idioms-
Allow room for passage, move aside, as in Please make way for the wheelchair . This expression was first recorded about 1200.
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Also, make way for . Leave room for a successor or substitute, as in It's time he retired and made way for some younger professor . [Mid-1700s]
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Progress, advance, as in Is this enterprise making way? [Late 1500s] For a synonym, see make headway .
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Indonesia's wildfires are a yearly occurrence, widely associated with industrial-scale land clearing to make way for crops like oil palm.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026
Belfast Health Trust had planned to move 80 staff out of an area of Belfast City Hospital to make way for the new unit, but having reviewed the proposal the DoH withdrew related funding.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
Paramount’s streaming chief Cindy Holland exited the company earlier this week to make way for Bloys.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
He first led the company through its 2021 minority initial public offering before retiring to make way for Jim Rowan, a Scottish tech executive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Rented from wealthy financier and merchant Robert Morris—who obligingly moved to another house on the same block to make way for the Washingtons—it would serve as both the president’s office and the official residence.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
