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

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 The theatre lights are up, as if to indicate that the audience is also attending the meeting, and Jeremy Strong, playing Dr. Thomas Stockmann, a scientist armed with the truth but lonely in its defense, is standing atop the bar, trying to get his point across. Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2024 Each of them cracking a smile and sharing a laugh, as if no major scandal was bubbling behind the scenes. Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 21 Mar. 2024 In other words, the study suggests that the traumatic memory, when retrieved, came forth as if it were being relived during the study. George Makari, The Atlantic, 21 Mar. 2024 Against the deep black backdrops around them — the game is staged like a piece of black box theater — this lack of contrast surrounds the players with digital halos, as if they’d been awkwardly pasted into the space. Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 20 Mar. 2024 The production design is terrific, as if Pedro Almodóvar decided to share his palette of popping colors, and the cast is impeccable, but nothing here ever feels sufficiently sharp, sophisticated or simply funny. Tom Gliatto, Peoplemag, 20 Mar. 2024 The same kind of as if they were all just built on one piece of silicon. Stephen Cass, IEEE Spectrum, 20 Mar. 2024 Mona’s remote beaches receive tribute from faraway waters, as if this might be the secret center of the world. Carina Del Valle Schorske, New York Times, 20 Mar. 2024 Instead, in the show, which opened on Thursday at the Park Avenue Armory, Stevens’s wistful and sometimes enigmatic numbers, set in various Illinois locations, are performed by three vocalists on platforms high above the action, wearing butterfly wings as if to stay aloft. Jesse Green, New York Times, 8 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'as if.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of as if was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near as if

Cite this Entry

“As if.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/as%20if. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

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
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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