make-believe

Noun · Adjective
Synonyms: pretensepretencepretend

Open English WordNet

Noun (2)

  1. imaginative intellectual playSynonyms: pretensepretenceType of imagination, imaging
  2. the enactment of a pretense“it was just pretend”Synonyms: pretendType of pretense, pretence

Adjective (1)

  1. imagined as in a play“the make-believe world of theater”“dangling their legs in the water to catch pretend fish”Synonyms: pretendOpposite existentSimilar unreal

Related words pretend verb, pretense noun

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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

make′-be·lieve′ noun

A feigning to believe, as in the play of children; a mere pretense; a fiction; an invention. “Childlike make-believe.” Edward Burnett Tylor

To forswear self-delusion and make-believe.— Matthew Arnold
Make′-be·lieve′ adjective

1. Feigned; insincere. “Make-believe reverence.” pseud. of Mary Ann

2. Imaginary; as, the child had a make-believe friend to whom he often talked.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: GCIDE editors

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