Phrase guide

make all the difference

verb · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

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Pronunciation

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1

verb

Meaning 1

To be a crucial or deciding factor; to have a very significant effect (often a positive one).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic

Examples

  • 1734, Alexander Forbes, Essays Moral and Philosophical, London: J. Osborn & T. Longman, Part I, Chapter 12, p. 100, To assert the Superiority of the Human Spirit [...] above that of other Animals upon this earth, has been the endeavour of many Persons, who [...] have made their System more coherent than those who have endeavour’d to put Men and Beasts upon a level. Some of this last Party indeed acknowledge the advantage that Mankind have from the Frame of the Body and its Organs, which they pretend makes all the difference.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.