as if
∞
2.1
- idiom
:
como si
- The noise was tremendous, as if a thousand hair dryers were aimed at me.
- look as if
- act as if
- feel as if
It was as if she was in him, as if she was him.
- It was as if she was in him, as if she was him.
- Too many people feel as if it's one or the other.
- Everyone talks about it as if it's real and it's not.
- He said it looks to me as if the stars are Suns.
- Rest in that space as if you're going to fall asleep.
- You treat everyone as if they're your family.
- The organization itself has to proceed as if it doesn't know.
- My name is Lowry, spelled LOURY but pronounced as if it were Lowery.
- They accept these dummies as if they were real.
- Now when you get there, it's not as if you have meaning.
Examples
-
The next morning, I felt as if I had spent the entire previous day drinking.
Academic text (1999) -
It's as if... we're two characters in a movie being played by the same actor.
-
Too many people feel as if it's one or the other.
-
Everyone talks about it as if it's real and it's not.
-
You treat everyone as if they're your family.
-
But we are going on as if it doesn't matter.
-
It's as if I've come in, made it my own.
-
And Irene just stood there, staring as if the earth had opened at her feet.
Fiction book (1990) -
Washington must not treat the Mexican government as if it were a Salvadoran-style patron of organized violence.
Academic text (1999) -
She looked at me as if I were the only person in the room.
How Sarcastic
- Offensive
∞
2.1
- Informal
∞
7.9
- Informal
∞
1.0
- Informal
∞
1.0
13
7.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'as' (in the same way) with 'if' (introducing a hypothetical condition), so its meaning 'in a way that suggests something is true' is directly derivable from the constituents as a comparative/hypothetical construction. This pattern is cross-linguistically common (e.g. Spanish 'como si', French 'comme si'), so a B1 learner who knows both words will generally be able to infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
As if joins as ('like') and if ('imagining'), creating a simple picture of someone acting as though something were true. That's why as if is used to say something 'seems to be true' or to compare a real situation with an imagined one.