tailor-make
Americanverb (used with object)
Usage
What does tailor-make mean? Tailor-make means to make to fit the needs or specifications of a particular situation, object, or person.It means to make something in the way that a tailor would make a piece of clothing for someone by fitting it to their exact measurements and needs.Tailor-make can be used in the context of clothing, but it’s more often used in a figurative sense, meaning the same thing as custom-make: to make something to unique specifications so that it fits perfectly and it’s one of a kind.Things made in such a way can be described with the adjective tailor-made, which can mean literally made by a tailor, or, more generally, made to unique specifications—or seeming to have been made that way.Example: We tailor-make a curriculum for each student to meet their individual needs.
Etymology
Origin of tailor-make
First recorded in 1895–1900
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.
"I don't want to get to a situation ... where we are asking for specific surfaces and tailor-made," McDonald said.
From Barron's
The correction is met with a brief pause from Kaling, whose real-time processing felt tailor-made to be dubbed with “the woman was too stunned to speak” viral TikTok audio.
From Los Angeles Times
Safdie said the 29-year-old Franco-American actor was tailor-made for the title role and wholly committed to the project from the get-go.
From Barron's
Imagine if death were also a one-way ticket to the tailor-made paradise of your desire.
From Salon
A Vietnam vet and mechanic with a dream of entertaining, Sardina seems a role tailor-made for Jackman, who can go from Wolverine to Broadway in a single season.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
