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
Mac Barnett, Longreads, 5 May 2026
The counterargument is that the world is filled with so many visible atrocities right now that a make-believe movie poster seems like the least of our problems.
—Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 20 Apr. 2026
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
Kids just call it make-believe.
—Mac Barnett, Longreads, 5 May 2026
The counterargument is that the world is filled with so many visible atrocities right now that a make-believe movie poster seems like the least of our problems.
—Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 20 Apr. 2026
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
-
But his idealized vision of a past paradise of social cohesion that late-stage capitalism destroyed doesn’t reckon with the snakes that were always there in this imaginary Eden, including a personal betrayal that’s close to home and only comes slithering out in a moment of drunken weakness.—
Leslie Felperin,
HollywoodReporter,
22 May 2026
-
Then Flores had Colemenares show him how to field a ground ball with an imaginary ball in class.—
Eric Sondheimer,
Los Angeles Times,
22 May 2026
Noun
-
But mostly, the intertwining threads just sit there, never coming together in any satisfying way or holding up as their own story within the story, despite how hard the writers work at showing that reality can inspire fiction but fiction can also bounce back to influence reality.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
14 May 2026
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For the week ending May 10, 2026 Here are this week’s Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers for fiction, based on sales in hundreds of independent bookstores nationwide, generously provided by the American Booksellers Association.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 May 2026
Adjective
-
Colbert also playfully mentioned a fictional appearance by Pope Leo XIV.—
Toni Fitzgerald,
Forbes.com,
22 May 2026
-
Employing a fictional slasher movie of yesteryear as the portal into a conversation about self and desire, this is heady, strange stuff, frustrating at times but captivating in both its confusion and its honesty.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
22 May 2026
Noun
-
Sipper talked about how her company trains with scalar field outputs of simulation data, and the meshes of objects.—
John Werner,
Forbes.com,
23 May 2026
-
Actor Eric Stonestreet showed up to cheer on Mahomes as the three men duked it out in the racing simulation game.—
Lisa Gutierrez
May 21,
Kansas City Star,
21 May 2026
Adjective
-
He is charged with one count of unlawful voting by aliens and one count of the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under state law.—
Louis Casiano,
FOXNews.com,
19 May 2026
-
The complaint also alleged payroll fraud, claiming that fictitious employees were being issued paper checks that were delivered to museum insiders.—
Brian Boucher,
ARTnews.com,
19 May 2026
Noun
-
Experience has taught me that too much imitation can paralyze you.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
17 May 2026
-
From left, stalwart Fast/Furious gun molls Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez, who know their way around all sorts of fancy cars, not to mention firearms, breezily support central good/bad dude Vin Diesel, who’s doing his best professional bowling imitation for the paparazzi.—
Guy Martin,
Forbes.com,
16 May 2026
Adjective
-
Bled, Slovenia Picturesque Bled looks like a mythical landscape dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm.—
Anne Olivia Bauso,
Travel + Leisure,
21 May 2026
-
Curated by Bruno Gaudichon, former longtime director of La Piscine museum in the north of France, the show transforms the gallery into a poetic forest inhabited by sculptural furniture, animals and mythic references spanning Europe and Asia.—
Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle,
Forbes.com,
19 May 2026
Noun
-
But in a matter of days, the race for control of the House — and the speaker’s gavel — was dramatically reset by back-to-back court rulings that wiped out the Democratic gains in Virginia and now threaten to erode Black representation by Democrats in the Deep South.—
Lisa Mascaro,
Los Angeles Times,
14 May 2026
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The decision’s impact Gerling said the argument that the new districts make Kansas City more powerful with additional representation is not realistic.—
Ben Wheeler
May 14,
Kansas City Star,
14 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Make-believe.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/make-believe. Accessed 24 May. 2026.
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