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

Synonyms

• as
• as though
• like

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 Air units provide support and cushioning and look as if they are set on a platform — a look that nods to a 1994 football boot. —Tiana Randall, Forbes.com, 29 Mar. 2025

Buck, Schroeder and Girardi just picked up the Yankee and Brewers storylines from spring training, not introducing old themes as if the audience weren’t baseball fans. —Andrew Marchand, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025

The pup, Butter, was filmed in September of last year looking scared and nervous around her new kitty sibling, keeping her distance from the feline and hiding away in her owner's arms, as if terrified of the new addition to the family. —Paul Du Quenoy, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Mar. 2025

On Saturday, March 29, the northeastern United States and Canada will witness a partial solar eclipse in the early hours of the day, according to Space.com, presenting a spectacle that will look as if the moon took a bite out of the sun. —Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 27 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for as if

• biff
• cliff
• diff
• glyph
• griff
• riff
• schiff
• skiff
• sniff
• stiff
• tiff
• whiff

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