Make-believe means imagining or pretending that something is real, as in children's games, or something that only looks true. Typical phrases are a world of make-believe and it's all make-believe. Before a noun, it works as an adjective: a make-believe friend is an imaginary one.
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(pure) make-believe; a world of make-believe; make-believe + noun; play make-believe
- My daughter spends hours in a world of make-believe with her toy animals.
- The perfect life in many influencers' photos is mostly make-believe.
- As kids, we played make-believe in the garden and pretended the shed was a castle.
What changed
First versionHis story about meeting a famous actor was pure make-belief.
RevisionHis story about meeting a famous actor was pure make-believe.
Belief is a noun, so make-belief looks logical. But this word is built on the verb believe: make-believe. The rest of the sentence is correct: pure make-believe means complete invention.
Make-believe does not mean to make someone believe something. That needs an object: They made me believe the tickets were free. Without an object, make believe means to pretend: The kids made believe they were astronauts.
Your turn
The film is set in a ___ country with its own language, flag and royal family.
Show the answer
make-believe — The country in the film is imaginary, so make-believe is correct; before a noun, it works as an adjective. Make-belief is a spelling mistake: the word is built on the verb believe, not the noun belief.
Think of a childhood game where you imagined something. Describe what you played and who you played with, using make-believe.
When I was seven, my cousin and I played make-believe in the garage and pretended it was a spaceship heading to Mars.
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