Showing results for "making"

• present participle of make.

making

American  

[may-king] / ˈmeɪ kɪŋ /

noun

• makings
  plural

1. the act of a person or thing that makes.

   The making of a violin requires great skill.

2. structure; constitution; makeup.

3. the means or cause of success or advancement.

   to be the making of someone.

4. Usually makings. capacity or potential.

   He has the makings of a first-rate officer.

5. makings,

   1. material of which something may be made.

      the makings for a tossed salad.

   2. Older Slang. paper and tobacco with which to make a hand-rolled cigarette.

6. something made.

7. the quantity made.

   a making of butter.

---

idioms

1. in the making, in the process of being made; developing or evolving; growing.

   Our space scientists see history in the making.

making British  

/ ˈmeɪkɪŋ /

noun

1. 1. the act of a person or thing that makes or the process of being made

   2. ( in combination )

      watchmaking

2. to cause the success of

3. in the process of becoming or being made

   a politician in the making

4. something made or the quantity of something made at one time

5. make-up; composition

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• self-making
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• makings
  plural

Etymology

Origin of making

First recorded before 1150; Middle English; Old English macung; make ¹ + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

making makings

Stoke Space, a startup working on a reusable rocket called Nova, raised $1 billion in September — making it the second-largest deal in the space-infrastructure segment tracked by Space Capital.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

Voice recognition is sufficient for less sensitive requests, like playing music or making an AirTag ring.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

The blueprint advocated making the Center for AI Standards and Innovation, a unit of the government’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, the “primary institution” for U.S. regulatory oversight of AI.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

He retired in 2013 after making 737 appearances for the club and has since become a pundit, appearing on Sky Sports and CBS Sports.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

“You look like you could use some water,” Nate says from behind me, making me startle.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

Add Evan McCalister of Valencia, Ezrah Brown of Orange Lutheran and Jeremy Mellalieu of Chaminade and you have the makings of a stellar sophomore class.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

From a distance, the movie has the makings of a classic.

From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026

"We realised we had a drummer and a few different players. Once we started meeting regularly, we realised we had the makings of a band."

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026

Uwe Boll’s latest film “Citizen Vigilante” had all the makings of a flop.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

He had practiced talking about his mother selling kernels at the store and buying the cake makings, his little brother and sisters being all right, no strangers coming past, not finding Sounder’s body.

From "Sounder" by William H. Armstrong

Related Words

• formulation