makeover

Etymology

It is formed from English make + over, a noun made from the phrasal verb make over, to refashion or remake.^[2][3][4][5] Etymonline dates make over in the sense "to refashion, reconstruct" to the 1690s, and in the older sense "to transfer the title of, convey" to the 1540s.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something, especially a garment, that has been altered or refashioned: 1925, in the Chicago Woman's World.^[2][6] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate dates the noun to 1927.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense, a thorough change of a person's appearance by new makeup, hair and clothes, is recorded from 1966 in the OED.^[2] According to the Oxford Dictionary of New Words it was common in hairdressers' and beauticians' trade papers in the 1970s, reached magazines for a wider readership at the end of that decade, and by the mid-1980s was a stock word of women's magazines, with their "before" and "after" photographs;^[4] Etymonline dates this sense by 1981.^[4][3] From the early 1980s it was extended to the remodelling of houses and interiors, and since about the mid-1980s business writers spoke of a corporate makeover when a company was restructured, especially when the change seemed only cosmetic.^[4] The word has also been used attributively since 1977.^[2] Merriam-Webster also records it for a restyled garment and for revised news copy in a later edition of a newspaper.^[6]

Timeline

• 1540s – the phrasal verb make over, to transfer ownership.^[3]
• 1690s – make over, to refashion or reconstruct.^[3]
• 1925 – noun, something (especially a garment) that has been refashioned.^[2][6]
• 1966 – a complete transformation, especially of a person's appearance.^[2]
• 1977 – attributive use, of or providing a makeover.^[2]
• mid-1980s – a corporate makeover, the restructuring of a company.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thorough change in a person's appearance, by new cosmetics, hairstyle or clothes: The bride's sister booked a makeover before the wedding.^[6][2][8]
2. A complete renovation or remodelling of something, such as a room, house or organization: The old station got a makeover and reopened as a café.^[9][2][4]
3. Something that has been made over, such as a restyled garment.^[6][2]

Related words

• make over
• make
• over

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Knowles, Elizabeth; Elliott, Julia, eds. (1997), The Oxford Dictionary of New Words, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt