Meaning & use
custom made
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Made specially to fit one person's measurements or to meet one customer's particular wishes.
Grammar: Used before a noun (a custom-made dress) or after a linking verb (the dress was custom-made); it has no comparative form.
Patterns
- custom-made for someone
- custom-made to do something
- be custom-made
He ordered a custom-made suit for the wedding.
The kitchen cabinets were custom-made to fit the awkward corner.
Her wheelchair is custom-made for her height and weight.
adjectivenot comparablefigurative
Designed for one particular purpose, group, or situation rather than for general use.
Grammar: Common before nouns such as solution, software, plan, and program.
Patterns
- custom-made for something
- custom-made solution
- custom-made for a group
The school bought custom-made software for its science labs.
This training program is custom-made for small businesses.
They offered a custom-made tour that matched our interests.
Common combinations
- custom-made suit
- A custom-made suit costs far more than one off the rack.
- custom-made furniture
- They filled the flat with custom-made furniture.
- custom-made for someone
- The boots were custom-made for the singer's narrow feet.
- custom-made to fit
- Each ring is custom-made to fit the buyer's finger.
- custom-made solution
- The company sells custom-made solutions to hotels.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bespoke
- Very close in meaning, but bespoke sounds formal and is used mostly in British English for clothing and services.
- tailor-made
- Often means made for a person's exact needs, and is also used figuratively for jobs or roles that suit someone perfectly.
- made-to-order
- Focuses on the fact that production starts only after the customer asks, and can describe food as well as goods.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: custom made or handmade? custom made or homemade?
custom made vs handmade
Handmade means made by hand rather than by machine; it does not mean made for one particular buyer, which is what custom made adds.
custom made vs homemade
Homemade means made at home, usually of food; it says nothing about being designed for one customer.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'custom made' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Custom made' means made specially for one buyer, so a dress sewn to one person's measurements fits. Option 0 fails because bread sold to hundreds of shops is mass-produced, not made for one customer. Option 2 is wrong because 'custom made' has no comparative form, and option 3 describes ordinary machine production.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “custom made”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.