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.
A Labour lawmaker in the northern district of Makerfield agreed to make way for Burnham to run.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2026
Reporters chronicled every metal barricade plunked down by police and each time people were told to move back from areas near the arena, to make way for the event and guests.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
The embattled premier "is expected to announce on Monday that he will step down as prime minister after overwhelming pressure from Labour MPs to make way for Andy Burnham", Britain's Guardian newspaper said.
From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026
Construction crews began tearing down the East Wing in October to make way for the 90,000-square-foot facility.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
Some things remained the same—specifically, the determination of settlers and the new republic to force Indigenous peoples off their homelands to make way for settlement.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
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.
