make-believe
noun
pretense, especially of an innocent or playful kind; playacting; fantasy.
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make-believe
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make believe
make believeverbto pretend or enact a fantasy
make-believe
American
[meyk-bi-leev]
/ ˈmeɪk bɪˌliv /
noun
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pretense, especially of an innocent or playful kind; playacting; fantasy.
the make-believe of children playing.
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a pretender; a person who pretends.
adjective
make believe
British
verb
noun
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a fantasy, pretence, or unreality
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( as modifier )
a make-believe world
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a person who pretends
make believe
Idioms
Etymology
Origin of make-believe
First recorded in 1805–15
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But make-believe can only get one so far when the real world keeps intruding.
From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2026
“Performing and make-believe eased my anxieties. I was able to step outside of myself,” she said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
Yabloko was for decades a core part of this make-believe politics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
Getting paid to write scripts for a project he’s passionate about, then act out those scripts as a make-believe coach, was once only slightly less unbelievable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
Josie tried to imagine what she would have done if she’d had to choose between what was best for her and Max, and what was best for some make-believe little siblings.
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Bitcoin might be make believe, but it’s also the center of speculative activity in financial markets.
From Barron's ● Dec. 2, 2025
It was Hollywood make believe, a phony fire created for the filming of a movie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2024
“And just make believe and playing. And then on a personal level, I think I learned how to be myself … that everyone would accept me for who I was.”
From Washington Times ● Mar. 21, 2023
They knew, however, that unlike the characters they portrayed, they would return to their ordered lives when their work was done — that they were ultimately playing make believe.
From New York Times ● Aug. 11, 2022
And, under it all, and this made it hard for him, he did not want to make believe that it was solved, make believe that he was happy when he was not.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
