believe it or not
English
Adverb
- (idiomatic) This may be surprising, but it's true.
- 2001, Bryan A. Garner, Legal writing in plain English: a text with exercises, page 108:
- That depends on how long the sentence is. Believe it or not, there’s a canon of construction about provisos, and the test is anything but clear: …
- 2003, Robert Bruce Thompson, Barbara Fritchman Thompson, PC hardware in a nutshell, page 230:
- One common cause of “flipped bit” memory errors is, believe it or not, cosmic rays.
- 2007, David Brown, Tchaikovsky: The Man and His Music, page 165:
- The descending opening phrase of the aria is, believe it or not, Tatyana’s Fate theme from her Letter Scene, though now in a minor, not major key: …
Synonyms
- believe or not (less common)
- surprisingly
Translations
This may be surprising, but it's true
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See also
Further reading
- “believe it or not”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
- “believe it or not” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
- “believe it or not”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- “believe it or not” (US) / “believe it or not” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
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