as in imaginary
not real and existing only in the imagination
zoomed around the house in a make-believe car
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in fiction
Synonyms & Similar 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
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
Lynnette Nicholas, Parents, 15 Jan. 2025
There is nothing make-believe about the fires, or the silhouetted human figures who flee from or confront them.
—Teju Cole, The New Yorker, 10 Jan. 2025
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
One thing, though: If Barney is supposed to be make-believe, how are each of the kids imagining him the same way and having the same experience?
—Lynnette Nicholas, Parents, 15 Jan. 2025
There is nothing make-believe about the fires, or the silhouetted human figures who flee from or confront them.
—Teju Cole, The New Yorker, 10 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for make-believe
Recent Examples of Synonyms for make-believe
Adjective
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That’s when Cora fired up some kind of imaginary jukebox inside his head and proceeded to dance the day away.—
Steve Buckley,
The Athletic,
16 Feb. 2025
-
Gradually, an imaginary narrative for the property took shape.—
Blaine Davis,
New York Times,
11 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
This Morning, This Evening (a portrait of a rural Alabama community in which Ross embedded himself), to Nickel Boys, his impressionistic bravura fiction feature debut about two Black boys sent to a reform school in Jim Crow–era Florida.—
Lisa Wong Macabasco,
Vogue,
22 Feb. 2025
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NewsGuard has identified 273 phony news sites of this type with links to Dougan, spreading disinformation that is then repeated by the leading Western chatbots, which NewsGuard has found have a limited ability to distinguish truth from fiction.—
Tom Rogers,
Newsweek,
21 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Created by Chris Romano and Eric Falconer, who also are believed to be back for the sequel, Blue Mountain State is about a fictitious university, Blue Mountain State, and its football team, the Mountain Goats.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
17 Feb. 2025
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Last month, its editor revealed that A.I. had been used to tweak the Hungarian accents of its stars, Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones, and to create fictitious architectural plans and buildings for the closing retrospective of the main character’s career.—
Michael Schulman,
The New Yorker,
6 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Showing off demos of impressive interactive experiences built with the models, like a time travel simulation that’s intuitive, visual, and multi-model, Mollick then talks about two scaling laws that apply: One is that larger models are more capable.—
John Werner,
Forbes,
26 Feb. 2025
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In 1,000 simulations of the same game events, Utah HC would have a 91 percent chance of beating the Blackhawks, according to MoneyPuck.com.—
Scott Powers,
The Athletic,
26 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Originally a spinoff of the NBC sitcom, A Different World first centered on Denise’s life as an undergrad at Hillman College, a fictional historically Black college in Virginia.—
Emily Krauser,
People.com,
23 Feb. 2025
-
In any case, the ad includes a phone number for the fictional business: 1-732-858-5242.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes,
22 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
Eddie Murphy, who once rescued Saturday Night Live during a rough patch in the 1980s, rescued a sketch in the show’s 50th anniversary special with a note-perfect imitation of Tracy Morgan.—
Dade Hayes,
Deadline,
16 Feb. 2025
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From frame one, Bob Dylan, the creation, the idea, the trickster, the lone wolf, without attitude or affectation, your Dylan was no imitation.—
Marcus Jones,
IndieWire,
12 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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So much so in fact, that echoes of that mythical landscape unexpectedly exist today outside a town three hours due north of Melbourne, Australia.—
Natalie Hoberman,
Forbes,
22 Feb. 2025
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Universal took to its official social media accounts to release the first photo from the film, which shows Matt Damon in costume as Odysseus, the mythical Greek hero who spends a decade trying to return home after fighting in the Trojan War.—
Christian Zilko,
IndieWire,
17 Feb. 2025
Noun
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As a result, Abbasi has separated from his U.S. representatives at Creative Arts Agency, Entertainment 360, and the law firm of Granderson Des Rochers, but still retains UK representation through Lark Management.—
Harrison Richlin,
IndieWire,
21 Feb. 2025
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Data is the backbone of any AI solution, but most AI models are trained with existing datasets that lack representation of diverse groups.—
Pradeep Kumar Muthukamatchi,
Forbes,
21 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Make-believe.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/make-believe. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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