make amends

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

make amends (third-person singular simple present makes amends, present participle making amends, simple past and past participle made amends)

1. (idiomatic) To repair a relationship; to resolve an argument or fight; to make reparations or redress.

   Synonyms: make up, atone, expiate, (obsolete) aby, (obsolete) abegge, repair

   I hope they can stop fighting and make amends.

   • 1990, Neil Tennant, Chris Lowe, “Being Boring”, in Behaviour, performed by Pet Shop Boys:

     We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"

   • 2011 January 25, Les Roopanarine, “Wigan 1 - 2 Aston Villa”, in BBC‎^[1], archived from the original on 6 September 2026:

     But with the home side likewise unable to make the most of a period of first-half ascendancy, Villa were swift to make amends on the restart.

Translations

to repair a relationship; to make up; to resolve an argument or fight; to make reparations or redress

• Catalan: reconciliar-se (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 和解 (zh) (héjiě)

• Czech: usmířit se (cs)
• Finnish: paikata suhteensa (repair a relationship), sopia (fi) (resolve an argument or fight), hyvittää (fi) (make reparations)
• French: obtenir satisfaction, donner satisfaction, se réconcilier (fr), se racheter (fr), faire amende honorable (fr)
• German: Genugtuung leisten
• Hungarian: jóvátesz (hu), helyrehoz (hu), ^{(please verify)} kárpótol (hu), ^{(please verify)} kiköszörüli a csorbát
• Icelandic: bæta upp, bæta, (to make amends for) bæta fyrir
• Italian: dare soddisfazione, farsi perdonnare, riconciliare (it)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: expiō, sarciō
• Polish: naprawiać (pl) impf, naprawić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: compensar (pt)
• Russian: искупа́ть (ru) (iskupátʹ)
• Spanish: reconciliar (es), desagraviar (es), hacer las paces (es)
• Swedish: gottgöra (sv)