1
as in assumption
something taken as being true or factual and used as a starting point for a course of action or reasoning
your conclusion may turn out to be accurate, but you're postulating a lot of ifs
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in condition
something upon which the carrying out of an agreement or offer depends
there are a number of ifs in the proposal
Synonyms & Similar 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 if
But all my ‘what ifs’ were about what will people would think, and that’s a dangerous headspace.
—
Marta Balaga, Variety, 23 Apr. 2026
But that’s a big if, and could be the difference between the Valkyries selecting a project like Angloma or a more surefire player that could contribute right away.
—Nathan Canilao, Mercury News, 12 Apr. 2026
That's a huge if against the best front line in the country, though.
—Tyler Everett, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Mar. 2026
But the if of the team’s health looms.
—Benjamin Royer, Oc Register, 18 Feb. 2026
The if-then paradigm needs to be simplified.
—Michael Isaacson, Sun Sentinel, 6 Jan. 2026
But even if the prison system reopens those beds — a big if, experts noted — Colorado will still be 230 to 440 beds short in the coming years, according to the 159-page report Brakke presented to the budget committee Friday.
—Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 24 Dec. 2025
With that in mind, even if Cooper succeeds in winning over city leaders—a big if—the potential challenges in leveraging Champions Point’s biggest selling point may only further stymie Cooper in turning the long-unsellable property into something people will pay to visit.
—Daniel Libit, Sportico.com, 15 Dec. 2025
If Florida is out of the way due to missing Aleksander Barkov (still a big if), the Atlantic really opens up.
—Sean Gentille, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
Marta Balaga, Variety, 23 Apr. 2026
But that’s a big if, and could be the difference between the Valkyries selecting a project like Angloma or a more surefire player that could contribute right away.
—Nathan Canilao, Mercury News, 12 Apr. 2026
That's a huge if against the best front line in the country, though.
—Tyler Everett, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Mar. 2026
But the if of the team’s health looms.
—Benjamin Royer, Oc Register, 18 Feb. 2026
The if-then paradigm needs to be simplified.
—Michael Isaacson, Sun Sentinel, 6 Jan. 2026
But even if the prison system reopens those beds — a big if, experts noted — Colorado will still be 230 to 440 beds short in the coming years, according to the 159-page report Brakke presented to the budget committee Friday.
—Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 24 Dec. 2025
With that in mind, even if Cooper succeeds in winning over city leaders—a big if—the potential challenges in leveraging Champions Point’s biggest selling point may only further stymie Cooper in turning the long-unsellable property into something people will pay to visit.
—Daniel Libit, Sportico.com, 15 Dec. 2025
If Florida is out of the way due to missing Aleksander Barkov (still a big if), the Atlantic really opens up.
—Sean Gentille, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for if
Noun
-
And that assumption is likely to drive mortgage interest rates higher, even with the central bank not scheduled to meet again until mid-June.—
Matt Richardson,
CBS News,
13 May 2026
-
Federal policy must reflect current exposure patterns rather than outdated assumptions.—
Anthony Nicome,
STAT,
13 May 2026
Noun
-
The order stranded them indefinitely, sometimes in life-threatening conditions.—
Annie Hylton,
New Yorker,
14 May 2026
-
There are women who cannot carry pregnancies for a variety of reasons — genetic conditions, cancer and loss of uterus, for example.—
Ann Marie Luft,
The Orlando Sentinel,
14 May 2026
Noun
-
This is as important, and as boring, in theory, as picking a fund for your 401(k), yet, improbably, the draft has become one of the largest events on the sporting calendar.—
Dan Greene,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
-
To overcome this problem, the study authors used a mathematical framework called the theory of functional connections (TFC).—
Rupendra Brahambhatt,
Interesting Engineering,
17 May 2026
Noun
-
Republican lawmakers also passed a spending package last year — enacted as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — that included provisions expected to reduce ACA enrollment and was cited among factors fueling higher premiums this year.—
Julie Appleby,
CBS News,
19 May 2026
-
Douglas County District Court Judge Carl Folsom III issued a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of key provisions of the state law in a 117-page ruling on Friday.—
Matthew Kelly
May 19,
Kansas City Star,
19 May 2026
Noun
-
Where the show’s values were once givens, almost diorama labels, now they’re presented as more fugitive and unstable, what its characters would hope the world to be.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
16 Oct. 2025
-
Among geologists, there are givens: Humans don’t build things that last a million years.—
Teri Sforza,
Oc Register,
8 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Those could be explicit requirements for a map to appear to be fair by certain statistical measures of partisanship.—
Isaac Chotiner,
New Yorker,
15 May 2026
-
Under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), there is no residency requirement to file a lawsuit challenging a project’s environmental review.—
James Ward,
USA Today,
15 May 2026
Noun
-
But the price was worth it for Bischofberger, who persuaded Warhol to give him right of first refusal for his art, a stipulation that the artist upheld until his death in 1987.—
Alex Greenberger,
ARTnews.com,
9 May 2026
-
Google removed the stipulation that its on-device AI model would not send data to Google’s servers.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
8 May 2026
Noun
-
With very few exceptions, an end was declared, not only to empires, but also to city-states, duchies, principalities, emirates, sultanates, caliphates, khanates, agencies, princely states, colonies, suzerains, dependencies, mandates, tributaries, condominia and protectorates.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 May 2026
-
In the aggregate, there is a correlation between earlier picks and better outcomes, but exceptions abound.—
Dan Greene,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“If.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/if. Accessed 20 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
