make time


Proceed rapidly, as in We have to make time if we don't want to miss the first part of the movie. This usage alludes to compensating for lost time. [First half of 1800s] Also see make good time.

Words Nearby make time

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

How to use make time in a sentence

  • The life imposed on the tenement-house mother does not make time an element in adjustment of her day, still less of her week.

    The Leaven in a Great City | Lillian William Betts
  • Here was where we could make time, and here the Tree People gave up and returned to their forest.

    Before Adam | Jack London
  • "She knows perfectly well she's going to make time," thought Val, and then—oh, dear!

    The Open Question | Elizabeth Robins
  • Afterwards, we'll take a few photographs and then throw this ship into high and really make time.

    Islands of Space | John W Campbell
  • They make time the sleeping partner of their lives to accomplish what ought to be achieved by their own will.

    Endymion | Benjamin Disraeli