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Make-believe   /meɪk-bɪlˈiv/   Listen
noun
make-believe  n.  A feigning to believe, as in the play of children; a mere pretense; a fiction; an invention. "Childlike make-believe." "To forswear self-delusion and make-believe."


adjective
Make-believe  adj.  
1.
Feigned; insincere. "Make-believe reverence."
2.
Imaginary; as, the child had a make-believe friend to whom he often talked.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Make-believe" Quotes from Famous Books



... reality. It had been all right as a provision merchant, but when it fancied itself capable of higher things it had deceived itself. Foolish little image with its brave dreams and its swelling words from Browning! All make-believe of the feeblest. He was a coward, running away at the first threat of danger. It was as if he were watching a tall stranger with a wand pointing to the embarrassed phantom that was himself, and ruthlessly exposing its frailties! ...
— Huntingtower • John Buchan
... hands, feet, betray the social grade of the candidates for portraiture. The picture tells no lie about them. There is no use in their putting on airs; the make-believe gentleman and lady cannot look like the genuine article. Mediocrity shows itself for what it is worth, no matter what temporary name it may have acquired. Ill-temper cannot hide itself under the simper of ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. XII. July, 1863, No. LXIX. - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics • Various
... on his side, the quick response of unmistakable passion. It had not come, and she had nothing left but to loathe herself. She did so, violently, for a long time, in the dark corner of the box, and she felt that he loathed her too. 'I love you!'—how pitifully the poor little make-believe words had quavered out and how much disgust they must have represented! 'Poor man—poor man!' Laura Wing suddenly found herself murmuring: compassion filled her mind at the sense of the way she had used him. ...
— A London Life; The Patagonia; The Liar; Mrs. Temperly • Henry James
... was pronounced its owner gave a ceremonious little bow such as is always used in make-believe introductions, and the newcomer bowed gravely to each in acknowledgment. Then she turned again to ...
— Peggy-Alone • Mary Agnes Byrne
... it! I'm much better-looking." Tad's honest, round, freckled face was winsome but not handsome, and the girls laughed at this make-believe vanity. ...
— Two Little Women • Carolyn Wells


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