make way
Idioms-
Allow room for passage, move aside, as in Please make way for the wheelchair . This expression was first recorded about 1200.
-
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]
-
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.
To make way for the next generation without losing key clients, major firms like Latham & Watkins and Debevoise are hiring specialized consultants to coax veterans into second careers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
Liber said at least 25 villages will be demolished to make way for it.
From Barron's ● Sep. 13, 2026
The region lost almost 160,000 hectares of forest area in 2025, more than one-third of the nationwide figure – much of it to make way for plantations and monocrop agriculture.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
The Galaxy’s first substitution came in the 68th minute, when Lozano left the field to make way for Robert Taylor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
They watched as the sleek car pulled past all the mud-splattered trucks and inched forward into the crowd, which parted quickly to make way.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
