believe it or not

Idioms

It's true, whether or not you agree, as in Believe it or not, I finally finished painting the house. Originating in the 1800s, this phrase gained currency as the title of a cartoon series begun in 1918 by Robert Ripley and continuing to run in American newspapers long after his death in 1949. Each drawing presented a strange but supposedly true phenomenon, such as a two-headed chicken.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Many of my friends, believe it or not, they worked in GE for their whole lives.

From Slate

Believe it or not, this isn’t the most terrible wrongdoing that was transformed into a storyline.

From Salon

"Carrots are a real focus for them. They even dig potatoes up, believe it or not. The big red deer dig potatoes out of the ground," he explained.

From BBC

“Believe it or not,” American Laila Edwards said before the game, “we have been challenged.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Another said: "She is very smart and super good answering this question. Believe it or not, she is going to be someone quite extraordinary, far beyond just an athlete in the future."

From Barron's

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023