- 1假裝、虛構（小孩扮家家酒那種）
Make-believe is the game of pretending. Children do it all the time: this sofa is a boat, this stick is a sword, we are kings until dinner. As a noun, it is that pretending itself — the made-up world. As an adjective, a make-believe friend is one you have imagined; a make-believe story is one that is not true. Adults use it too, sometimes kindly (“it’s only make-believe”) and sometimes to push something away (“that promise was make-believe” — it was never real). It comes straight from the verb phrase make believe, “to pretend.” The marks the noun and the adjective; the verb is still make believe, two words.
這個名詞指假裝的遊戲，就像小孩把沙發當船、把木棍當劍。當名詞時，指那種假裝出來的世界本身；當形容詞時，常見的搭配像 「a make-believe friend」，指想像出來的朋友，或 「a make-believe story」，指不是真的故事。
大人有時會溫和地說 「it's only make-believe」，有時則用 「that promise was make-believe」，意思是那個承諾從來不是真的。它來自動詞片語 make believe，動詞仍然寫成兩個字，連字號只用在名詞和形容詞上。
From the word’s history
From the verb phrase make believe.
由片語 make believe（讓人相信）轉成的詞。
組成Deverbal from the phrase make believe (to pretend).
原始詞典資料4 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
make-believenoun/ˈmeɪk bəˌliːv/
- 1
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 saying
- 2
The condition of pretending or imagining that things are better than they really are.
- 3
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!’
make-believeadj/ˈmeɪk bəˌliːv/
- 1
Imaginary; not real; pretend.
- He called himself Lord So-and-So, even had his family crest on the wall, but it was all totally make-believe.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。