make sense

If something is clear or reasonable, you can understand why it is said or done.

• That answer makes sense.
• Her plan made sense once she explained it.
• Does this sentence make sense to you?

How to use it: make sense to someone (Your explanation makes sense to me.)

Similar words: be logical, be reasonable, be understandable

Common phrases: make sense now, make sense to someone

If you do this with something confusing, you understand what it means or how it works.

• Can you make sense of this map?
• She finally made sense of his messy notes.
• We are trying to make sense of the results.

How to use it: make sense of someone/something (I cannot make sense of these instructions.)

Similar words: understand, figure out, interpret

Opposites: misunderstand

Common phrases: make sense of something, make sense of someone

If a choice or situation is useful or good for you, it is worth choosing or continuing.

• Buying a monthly pass makes sense for me.
• Their relationship no longer made sense to either of them.
• Does renting a car make sense financially?

How to use it: it makes sense to do something (It makes sense to buy tickets early.); make sense for someone (A smaller office makes sense for our company.)

Similar words: be worthwhile, be beneficial, be practical

Common phrases: make sense financially, make sense for someone

To be ordinary in size or development; mainly used negatively to describe something unusually large or impressive.

• His enormous arms barely make sense.
• After years of training, her muscles no longer made sense.
• Those legs are so huge they do not make sense.

Similar words: be ordinary, be unremarkable

Opposites: be extraordinary

Common phrases: make sense anymore, make sense physically