You use as if and as though when you are giving a possible explanation for something or saying that something appears to be the case when it is not.
Anne shrugged, as if she didn't know.
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as if in British English
or as though
as it would be if
he talked as if he knew all about it
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as if in British English
as it would be if; as though
he treats me as if I were junior to him
See full dictionary entry for if
as if in American English
1.
as it (or one) would if
2.
that
it seems as if you're never happy
See full dictionary entry for as
as if in American English
as the situation would be if; as though
See full dictionary entry for if
Examples of 'as if' in a sentence
as if
It sounds as if it is just time to move on.
The Sun (2017)
People used to talk about the show as if all the cast were members of their own family.
The Sun (2016)
The City is treating the stock as if profits are about to crash.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It just felt as if any other successful, overworked comedian could have thought up the jokes.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
It was just as if they were behind me in the room, saying all the things they usedto say.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Or they stand and stare as if she's just stepped out of a flying saucer carrying a tub of their favourite ice cream.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
You lean in slightly, as if you're about to power forward.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
England had talked about that game as if it was their World Cup final.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Sometimes he would clutch at my hand as we parted as if about to confide something.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Her voice sounded as if she had just been waiting for a chance to let off steam.
Clerk, Jayana & Siegel, Ruth Modern Literatures of the Non-Western World: Where the Waters Are Born (1995)
Though it looks as if most of us could be caught out in this trap.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
So far it looks as if there will be a good harvest this year.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
It was always unnerving listening to humans talk about them as if they knew it all.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Instead we talked about the future as if it were arriving at any minute.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
He talks about a diet as if it were an odd modern conspiracy.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Americans have just found a way of talking about failure as if it were success.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Not long ago it looked as if England would soon disappear under decking.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
When darkness moved in from noon till three, it was as if the good earth itself had become ashamed of him.
Christianity Today (2000)
They also have a pale stripe below the eye, and in a good light look as if they are wearing spectacles.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
To live not as if you have all the time in the world, but as if it will soon slip from your grasp.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
He stared at Steel for a good two minutes as if getting the measure of this man to whom he had entrusted his future.
Iain Gale Man of Honour (2007)
The others, though, look as if they are just coming to the boil.
The Sun (2008)
He looked very formal - as if he'd just finished work.
The Sun (2006)
She was presented, though, as if she was.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
It looks, though, as if his time in the sun will be short.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
He did sound, though, as if he was announcing a manifesto.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Instead, her nose lifts high and left, as if she has just walked behind a bin lorry.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Sadly, you soon feel as if you are being taken on a forced march through the world's largest museum of anthropology.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
The flowers grow in dense, drooping sprays along the narrow branches and twigs, and the whole tree soon looks as if it is under snow.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
No one disturbed him, and he did what he liked with his plot, which soon looked as if a series of small earthquakes had stirred it up.
Louisa May Alcott Little Men (1871)
All related terms of 'as if'
make as if
to behave as if
it's not as if
You use ' It's not as if ' to introduce a statement which, if it were true, might explain something puzzling , although in fact it is not true.
on cue/as if on cue
If you say that something happened on cue or as if on cue , you mean that it happened just when it was expected to happen, or just at the right time.
as if/like one owns the place
If you say that someone does something as if they own the place or like they own the place , you are critical of them because they do it in a very arrogant way.