as if

conjunction

1

: as it would be if

It was as if he had lost his last friend.

2

: as one would do if

He ran as if ghosts were chasing him.

3

: that

It seemed as if the day would never end.

4

—used to say that something is not true, not possible, will not happen, etc.

"I am sure I am very affectionate," said Dora; "you oughtn't to be cruel to me, Doady!" "Cruel, my precious love! As if I would—or could—be cruel to you, for the world!"

—Charles Dickens

—sometimes used informally as an interjection to say that something suggested or claimed is impossible, incorrect, or ridiculously unlikely to be true

A simple collection of songs? As if. How about a conceptual ode to London's millennia-old history?

—Craig McLean

Big budgets? High-priced actresses? As if! The film cost a modest $13 million, a figure achieved by not casting stars, but rather stars-in-the-making …

—Nicholas Fonseca

Synonyms

• as
• as though
• like

Examples of as if in a Sentence

she looked as if she wanted to ask one more question before we left

Recent Examples on the Web

On the one hand, Satan’s success seems inevitable, as if eating the fruit was the only choice Eve could have made, and thus no choice at all. —Merve Emre, The New Yorker, 16 Dec. 2024

The end of neoliberalism is the end of the classic model of celebrity, wherein the talented, pretty or charismatic are appointed and worshiped as if by divine decree. —Harmony Holiday, Los Angeles Times, 16 Dec. 2024

The Buffalo Evening News observed that the husband’s face was battered, but appeared peaceful, as if the first blow knocked him out. —Mara Bovsun, New York Daily News, 15 Dec. 2024

Some cautiously scooped up a handful of bills, stacking them neatly as if to claim their prize. —Lilian Raji, Forbes, 15 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

as if

conjunction

1

: the way it would be if

it was as if we had never left

2

: the way one would do if

they acted as if they'd never heard of us

3

: that entry 2 sense 1a

it seemed as if the day would never end