as if

conjunction

1

: as it would be if

It was as if he had lost his last friend.

2

: as one would do if

He ran as if ghosts were chasing him.

3

: that

It seemed as if the day would never end.

4

—used to say that something is not true, not possible, will not happen, etc.

"I am sure I am very affectionate," said Dora; "you oughtn't to be cruel to me, Doady!" "Cruel, my precious love! As if I would—or could—be cruel to you, for the world!"

—Charles Dickens

—sometimes used informally as an interjection to say that something suggested or claimed is impossible, incorrect, or ridiculously unlikely to be true

A simple collection of songs? As if. How about a conceptual ode to London's millennia-old history?

—Craig McLean

Big budgets? High-priced actresses? As if! The film cost a modest $13 million, a figure achieved by not casting stars, but rather stars-in-the-making …

—Nicholas Fonseca

Synonyms of as if

• like

Examples of as if in a Sentence

she looked as if she wanted to ask one more question before we left

Recent Examples on the Web

As the referee got to six, Femi stood straight up as if the sixth finishing maneuver that Lesnar delivered was almost non-existent. —Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 31 May 2026

In one cavernous room, chairs, barstools, halogen lamps, and storage units have been stacked atop one another, as if someone had been trying to erect a barricade—but who, or what, is being kept at bay? —Justin Chang, New Yorker, 31 May 2026

And Wrobleski nodded, as if in acceptance, before turning to watch the ball fly over the wall in center field for a solo homer. —Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 30 May 2026

Tech executives, investors, and many politicians speak as if a new wave of intelligent machines is about to transform labor—automatically and at a planetary scale. —Christopher Marquis, Time, 30 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for as if

• biff
• cliff
• diff
• glyph
• griff
• riff
• schiff
• skiff
• sniff
• stiff
• tiff
• whiff

Kids Definition

as if

conjunction

1

: the way it would be if

it was as if we had never left

2

: the way one would do if

they acted as if they'd never heard of us

3

: that entry 2 sense 1a

it seemed as if the day would never end