make sense

1. Be understandable. This usage, first recorded in 1686, is often used in a negative context, as in This explanation doesn't make sense .

2. Be reasonable, wise, or practical, as in It makes sense to find out first how many will attend the conference . This term employs sense in the meaning of “what is reasonable,” a usage dating from 1600. In Britain it is also put as stand to sense .

Example Sentences

Ballesteros grew up in Orange County with a camera almost always in his hand, less out of Hollywood ambitions than a way of making sense of the world.

From Los Angeles Times

With such an incredible goalscoring record, it makes sense to consider the Manchester City striker an unbelievable finisher.

From BBC

Larson wrote in the same email that ECC was “supposedly the lowest bidder” but was “costing more” than the lower bids, which he wrote “doesn’t make sense.”

From Los Angeles Times

So the decision does not really make sense, at least not on that reasoning.

From BBC

It makes sense, then, how Deen was roped into recording multiple apology videos, which were mistakenly uploaded with little time between each other, only to be quickly yanked from YouTube.

From Salon

Related Words

• get on