as in imaginary
not real and existing only in the imagination
zoomed around the house in a make-believe car
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
make believe
2 of 3phrase
as in pretend
to present a false appearance of
He made believe he was sick to get out of going to school.
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in fiction
Related Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of make-believe
Emily Badger, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2025
Parents read while their children clambered through a make-believe forest in the kids section.
—Sarah D. Wire, USA Today, 3 Apr. 2025
Julie Hinds, Detroit Free Press, 17 Mar. 2023
The internet provided a fertile new stage for my proclivity for make-believe.
—Kira Homsher, Longreads, 14 Mar. 2023
See All Example Sentences for make-believe
Adjective
Now four years later, Mr. Musk and his team appear to have found those make-believe people.
—Emily Badger, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2025
Parents read while their children clambered through a make-believe forest in the kids section.
—Sarah D. Wire, USA Today, 3 Apr. 2025
Phrase
Yet in the past, intimate scenes in theater, film and television were rarely treated with the same mindfulness as a make-believe duel.
—Julie Hinds, Detroit Free Press, 17 Mar. 2023
The internet provided a fertile new stage for my proclivity for make-believe.
—Kira Homsher, Longreads, 14 Mar. 2023
See All Example Sentences for make-believe
Recent Examples of Synonyms for make-believe
Adjective
-
The Royal Observatory Greenwich is home to Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian, an imaginary line of longitude, designated as 0 degrees that runs from the North Pole to the South Pole.—
Jamie Carter,
Forbes.com,
10 July 2025
-
The soundtrack shifts toward lighter indie rock and away from brain-numbing redundancies, while the story treats those imaginary genre sketches like an accidental off-ramp left in the rearview.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
10 July 2025
Noun
-
That was the era The Wednesday Sisters explores, although somehow that was marketed as contemporary fiction.—
Jane Ciabattari
July 1,
Literary Hub,
1 July 2025
-
Sputnik Media is based in Antwerp and works across fiction and non-fiction.—
Stewart Clarke,
Deadline,
1 July 2025
Adjective
-
The Terrifier film franchise stars Art the Clown as a demonic killer who stalks his victims in the fictitious Miles County in Staten Island, New York.—
Brady MacDonald,
Oc Register,
10 July 2025
-
Senegal just ditched its plans for the singer’s multibillion-dollar smart city in the country, reminiscent of Marvel’s fictitious nation in its Black Panther franchise.—
Nicole Hoey,
Robb Report,
10 July 2025
Noun
-
Modern research emphasizes that accurately measuring a chatbot's performance requires multi-turn simulations that capture how the AI performs throughout an entire conversation.—
Tarush Agarwal,
Forbes.com,
8 July 2025
-
So many simulations — and math! — have the Tigers at 94.4 wins (from 93.4 last week) and a comfy 12-game lead on the Twins.—
Ryan Ford,
Freep.com,
7 July 2025
Adjective
-
Again, these are fictional groups from a Netflix movie (albeit, of course, with real singers behind them).—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes.com,
5 July 2025
-
In April 2025, Pascale Hutton, who plays Rosemary Coulter, shared a post on Instagram posing with her on-screen husband, Kavan Smith, who portrays Leland Coulter, and their fictional daughter, Marigold.—
Francesca Gariano,
People.com,
5 July 2025
Noun
-
Megan Stalter’s challenge here is to come off more like herself and less like an imitation of Dunham, to resist the impulse to do Hannah Horvath in London.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
10 July 2025
-
The challenge is compounded by the fact that many jurisdictions have weak enforcement mechanisms for intellectual property violations, lengthy legal processes that favor defendants and cultural attitudes that view imitation as legitimate competition rather than theft.—
Mohaimina Haque,
Forbes.com,
9 July 2025
Adjective
-
And his government constructed a temple to Ram on the site of a former mosque in Ayodhya, the mythical birthplace of the eponymous hero of a Hindu epic.—
HARTOSH SINGH BAL,
Foreign Affairs,
30 June 2025
-
Ozark Bathhouse, adorned with facade planters bearing pairs of mythical flying creatures, sometimes functions as a cultural center that hosts exhibits of arts and crafts.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
30 June 2025
Noun
-
The first sign of trouble appeared last month after movers began hauling machinery out of a garment factory in the Sri Lankan suburb of Katunayake, the only one that Next operates in the South Asian nation with union representation.—
Jasmin Malik Chua,
Sourcing Journal,
1 July 2025
-
As Hollywood grapples with representation and authentic storytelling, Rassoul embodies a different possibility: identity as active construction rather than passive inheritance.—
Matthew Kayser,
USA Today,
30 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Make-believe.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/make-believe. Accessed 15 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share