Transcription
-
- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
-
- [meyk bih-leev]
- /meɪk bɪˈliv/
- /meɪk bɪˈliːv/
-
- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
-
- [meyk bih-leev]
- /meɪk bɪˈliv/
Definitions of make-believe word
- noun make-believe pretense, especially of an innocent or playful kind; feigning; sham: the make-believe of children playing. 1
- noun make-believe a pretender; a person who pretends. 1
- adjective make-believe pretended; feigned; imaginary; made-up; unreal: a make-believe world of fantasy. 1
- uncountable noun make-believe If someone is living in a make-believe world, they are pretending that things are better, different, or more exciting than they really are instead of facing up to reality. 0
- uncountable noun make-believe You use make-believe to refer to the activity involved when a child plays a game in which they pretend something, for example that they are someone else. 0
- adjective make-believe You use make-believe to describe things, for example in a play or film, that imitate or copy something real, but which are not what they appear to be. 0
Information block about the term
Origin of make-believe
First appearance:
before 1805 One of the 41% newest English words
First recorded in 1805-15
Historical Comparancy
Parts of speech for Make-believe
noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
make-believe popularity
A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 34% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.
Synonyms for make-believe
adj make-believe
- imaginary — existing only in the imagination or fancy; not real; fancied: an imaginary illness; the imaginary animals in the stories of Dr. Seuss.
- fictional — invented as part of a work of fiction: Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective.
- simulated — to create a simulation, likeness, or model of (a situation, system, or the like): to simulate crisis conditions.
- fantasy — imagination, especially when extravagant and unrestrained.
- pretend — to cause or attempt to cause (what is not so) to seem so: to pretend illness; to pretend that nothing is wrong.
noun make-believe
- charade — If you describe someone's actions as a charade, you mean that their actions are so obviously false that they do not convince anyone.
- pageant — an elaborate public spectacle illustrative of the history of a place, institution, or the like, often given in dramatic form or as a procession of colorful floats.
- disguise — to change the appearance or guise of so as to conceal identity or mislead, as by means of deceptive garb: The king was disguised as a peasant.
- pretense — pretending or feigning; make-believe: My sleepiness was all pretense.
- imagination — the faculty of imagining, or of forming mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses.
Antonyms for make-believe
adj make-believe
- real — true; not merely ostensible, nominal, or apparent: the real reason for an act.
- genuine — possessing the claimed or attributed character, quality, or origin; not counterfeit; authentic; real: genuine sympathy; a genuine antique.
- true — being in accordance with the actual state or conditions; conforming to reality or fact; not false: a true story.
- unimagined — to form a mental image of (something not actually present to the senses).
noun make-believe
See also
Matching words
- Words starting with m
- Words starting with ma
- Words starting with mak
- Words starting with make
- Words starting with makeb
- Words starting with makebe
- Words starting with makebel
- Words starting with makebeli
- Words starting with makebelie
- Words starting with makebeliev
- Words starting with makebelieve