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
as in fiction
Related Words
make believe
3 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
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of make-believe
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
Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 21 Feb. 2026
Now, a new study suggests that such make-believe play is not a uniquely human talent, but a skill that great apes also possess.
—Amarachi Orie, CNN Money, 9 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for make-believe
Adjective
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
Noun
Park Güell is an almost make-believe landscape, home to Barcelona’s famous mosaic lizard—the image on a thousand postcards—plus spiral towers that look like fairground slides.
—Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 21 Feb. 2026
Now, a new study suggests that such make-believe play is not a uniquely human talent, but a skill that great apes also possess.
—Amarachi Orie, CNN Money, 9 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for make-believe
Recent Examples of Synonyms for make-believe
Adjective
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And so the super, super devoted fans really do know each other and really are jockeying with each other for position in a way that feels both real and imaginary.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
9 Apr. 2026
-
No borders and a thin blue line Viewing the Earth from space, White highlights, drives home that the borders that mark our maps are largely imaginary.—
Jackie Wattles,
CNN Money,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The Canadian filmmaker Sophy Romvari does something similar with the new movie Blue Heron, a semi-autobiographical piece whose structure loops in on itself, melding fact and fiction into a doleful portrait of a family tragedy.—
Richard Lawson,
HollywoodReporter,
16 Apr. 2026
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Shot on 16mm, the film blends fiction and documentary and tackles themes ranging from labor rights to gender identity.—
Lise Pedersen,
Variety,
16 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Gemmill echoed the sentiment, emphasizing that the priority is maintaining the realism of the show, which centers on a fictional hospital in Pittsburgh.—
Tribune News Service,
Baltimore Sun,
17 Apr. 2026
-
Then again, an especially good fictional song can come to feel more real than its story of origin.—
Mitch Therieau,
New Yorker,
17 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
To investigate, the researchers combined spectroscopy experiments with simulations to track how energy flows through the material.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
11 Apr. 2026
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In order to measure AI’s tendency to give responses aligning with trends rather than logic, researchers tested seven models, including GPT-5, Claude, Gemini, Grok, across 15,000 simulations and scenarios.—
Sasha Rogelberg,
Fortune,
10 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Investigators allege Gonzalez wrote checks to herself from HOA accounts over an extended period and concealed the thefts by creating fictitious invoices and false ledger entries.—
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten,
FOXNews.com,
8 Apr. 2026
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One requires election records to be maintained for 22 months, while the other prohibits procuring, casting or tabulating false, fictitious or fraudulent ballots.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
29 Mar. 2026
Noun
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An amusing film if not altogether convincing, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is protracted and exceedingly hampered by imitation.—
Gregory Nussen,
Deadline,
16 Apr. 2026
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This will eventually mean that only tweed made in Donegal will be allowed to be marketed as such, helping to prevent imitations and retain jobs.—
Kissa Castaneda,
Condé Nast Traveler,
16 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Beyond the family drama, the play also expands into something mythic — that they are all connected not only across generations, but through a deeper ancestral line tied to an African king (Chat Atkins plays both early ancestors, Peter and the King).—
Amy Reyes,
Miami Herald,
16 Apr. 2026
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The truly mythic figures are the ones with wide-reaching influence—teaching other cooks, breaking new ground, and pushing the regional traditions forward.—
Robert F. Moss,
Southern Living,
16 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Opposition parties warn that basing constituencies on population could shift political power toward faster-growing northern states, while diminishing the parliamentary representation, seat share and overall influence of southern regions.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
16 Apr. 2026
-
Queens Defenders provides legal representation to criminal defendants who can’t afford to hire lawyers, but Zeno and boyfriend Rashad Ruhani used the organization as their personal piggy bank, stealing to pay the rent on their swanky $6,000-a-month Astoria penthouse apartment.—
John Annese,
New York Daily News,
16 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Make-believe.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/make-believe. Accessed 19 Apr. 2026.
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