mend fences
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The only thing she could do now was find Ana and mend a few fences.
He has withdrawn his chapters from an authorised English translation due later this year, and is about to spend a month in America mending fences.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “mend fences” mean?
Make peace with.
Is “mend fences” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.