Word.ws English Dictionary

make-believes

make-believes is the plural of make-believe.

Meaning of make-believe

Noun

make-believe (countable and uncountable, plural make-believes)

  1. (childish, sometimes, uncountable) The quality or act of pretending; acting as if something is true when in fact one knows it is not.
    • Come on, come on, I go up and down / I like this curious feeling / I know, I see, it's like make believe / Cover your ears so you can hear what I'm saying1985, “The Lady Don't Mind”, in Little Creatures, performed by Talking Heads
  2. (childish, sometimes, uncountable) The condition of pretending or imagining that things are better than they really are.
  3. (childish, countable, sometimes) Something imaginary.
    • ‘You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Marjorie Lindon, to even think such nonsense. Are you all nerves and morbid imaginings,—you who have prided yourself on being so strong-minded! A pretty sort you are to do battle for anyone.—Why, they’re only make-believes!’1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle

See all 4 meanings of make-believe

Questions about make-believes

What is make-believes the plural of?
Make-believes is the plural of make-believe.

Words near make-believes in the dictionary

  1. make-aheads
  2. make-and-break
  3. make-and-breaks
  4. make-before-break
  5. make-believe
  6. make-believes
  7. make-debate
  8. make-debates
  9. make-do
  10. make-dos
  11. make-fray

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: make-believes (page history and authors); make-believe (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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