Make up means to invent something, such as a story, an excuse or sometimes a lie, or to form part of a whole. The second meaning is often needed to describe numbers: Women make up 40% of the staff. “Be made up of” means “consist of”.
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make up + story/excuse; make up + % of + group; be made up of + parts; make up with + person
- He was late again and made up a story about a broken lift.
- Students from Asia make up almost half of our language school.
- Our project team is made up of two designers, three engineers and a manager.
What changed
First versionOur study group is made up from five students.
RevisionOur study group is made up of five students.
“From” may seem logical here, but after “be made up”, the preposition is “of”: “made up of five students”. “Consist of” works the same way.
“Make up with” someone means to become friends again after an argument: They argued in the morning but made up by lunch. With a hyphen, “make-up” is a noun meaning cosmetics: She doesn't wear much make-up.
Your turn
I didn't want to go to the party, so I ___ an excuse about a headache.
Show the answer
made up — The headache was invented, and inventing an excuse is “made up”. “Made out” usually means managed to see, hear or read something with difficulty, and it is not used with “an excuse”.
Describe a group you study or work in. Say how many people are in it and who makes up the majority.
My English class is made up of twelve people, and university students make up most of the group.
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