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

Her fans, many sporting sheer red gloves, cat ears and varying levels of undress, were eager to be sated and reacted as if their souls were being saved within seconds of the start of each of the 23 songs Grande performed. —Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 7 June 2026

When manager Warren Schaeffer removed him in the sixth, Castaño received a smattering of applause and tipped his hat to the crowd on his way to the dugout as if responding to a standing ovation. —Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 7 June 2026

Both of those latter cocktails are pure brightness, while the vanilla from the aged rum and the spice from the bitters in the Old Cuban moves it from poolside to inside as if under a slowly twisting ceiling fan in a smoky room, long narrow beams of light through the wooden shutters. —Jeremy Repanich, Robb Report, 6 June 2026

Courtesy of Rizzotti Advisors The Egadi Islands, off the western coast of Sicily, feel almost untouched, as if the Mediterranean broke off a few fragments and left them in place. —Spencer Elliott, Forbes.com, 6 June 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