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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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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
Amarachi Orie, CNN Money, 9 Feb. 2026
In a set of experiments, a team of researchers offered a bonobo named Kanzi invisible juice and grapes, presenting the tests as something of a game, akin to a child’s make-believe tea party.
—Evan Bush, NBC news, 5 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
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
In a set of experiments, a team of researchers offered a bonobo named Kanzi invisible juice and grapes, presenting the tests as something of a game, akin to a child’s make-believe tea party.
—Evan Bush, NBC news, 5 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for make-believe
Recent Examples of Synonyms for make-believe
Adjective
-
Engendered by the ubiquity of stable and robust WiFi and the incredible power of the smartphone’s system-on-a-chip design, the smart everything era demonstrates the full transfer of the smartness imaginary.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
2 Apr. 2026
-
Following Christopher Columbus’ first voyage, the rulers of Portugal and Spain, by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), partitioned the non-Christian world between them by an imaginary line in the Atlantic, 370 leagues (about 1,300 miles) west of the Cape Verde Islands.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
If the creation of fiction is a layered endeavor—if premise, plot, style, and so on are to some extent separable—then must all the layers be made by the same individual?—
Joshua Rothman,
New Yorker,
3 Apr. 2026
-
Every month, Emma Alpern and Jasmine Vojdani recommend new fiction and nonfiction books.—
Jasmine Vojdani,
Vulture,
2 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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The two bonded over Crane’s adoration of the 1930s fictional detective Nero Wolfe and the formative subject of their fathers.—
Annie Vainshtein,
San Francisco Chronicle,
3 Apr. 2026
-
Getting cleared of a gruesome crime has boosted his social cache in his upper-class neighborhood of Westmont Village, a fictional New York suburb.—
Aramide Tinubu,
Variety,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Visitors to his site have run tens of thousands of simulations, which right now put the odds of a Democratic freeze-out at about 17% to 20%.—
Mark Z. Barabak,
Mercury News,
4 Apr. 2026
-
This finding allows computer simulations to match experimental results, which provides a tool for designing future fusion power plants.—
Aman Tripathi,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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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
-
Increasingly, human resources departments noticed that applicants used the résumé to tell white lies, and even bigger fibs, listing fictitious degrees, fake promotions and other embellishments.—
Stephen Mihm,
Twin Cities,
29 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The theorist Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick examined the extent to which jealous imitation drives all manner of same-sex relations, straight and gay.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
27 Mar. 2026
-
Choose pure vanilla extract (not imitation vanilla) for superior flavor.—
Robin Miller,
AZCentral.com,
26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
In the immediate wake of Adebayo scoring 83 — second in NBA history only to Wilt Chamberlain’s mythical 100 — in a 150-129 blowout victory, Wizards coach Brian Keefe questioned the means to that end.—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
3 Apr. 2026
-
Per the new show’s official logline, in this new era of Peaky Blinders, a decade after World War Two, the race to rebuild Birmingham becomes a brutal contest of mythical dimensions.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Competing civic interests and institutional missions inevitably clash, particularly when promises of cultural visibility and community representation are made simultaneously.—
Michelle Grabner,
Artforum,
2 Apr. 2026
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Changing one's gender on official documents, gender-affirming care and any public representation of gay or transgender people are banned in Russia.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
2 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Make-believe.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/make-believe. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.
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