believe it or not

believe it or not

1. (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: …

• believe or not (less common)
• surprisingly

• like it or not

• “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.