Phrase guide

believe you me

phrase · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /bɪˈliːv juː ˈmiː/
  • General-American: /bɪˈliv ju ˈmi/
  • General-American: /bi-/
  • General-American: /bə-/
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

phrase

Meaning 1

An emphatic form of believe me: you (the subject) had better believe me (the speaker).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Derived from an archaic English sentence structure. Compare I kid you not.

Across languages

Translations

1 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Polish: uwierz mi — emphatic form of believe me