Time-domain spectral matching commonly used to define seismic inputs to dynamic analysis in terms of acceleration time history compatible with a specific target response spectrum is used in this study to investigate the second-order geometric effect of P-delta on the seismic response of base-isolated high-rise buildings. A synthetic time series is generated by adjusting reference time series that consist of available readings from a past earthquake of the 1940 El Centro earthquake adopted as an initial time series. The superstructure of a 20-story base isolated building is represented by a 3-D finite element model using ETABS software. The results of the base isolated building show that base isolation technique significantly reduces inter-story drift and acceleration of the superstructure. Results presented reflect the potential of synthetic time history analysis to capture base isolator characteristics and to show their effect on the results of the dynamic analysis when compared to target response spectrum analysis. Geometric nonlinear analysis due to P-delta reveals that p-delta effect reduces base shear and story acceleration by about 5%, whereas inter-story drifts increased by about 3%. This study shows that including geometric nonlinearity due to p-delta reduces pseudo acceleration of the superstructure and hence the earthquake-induced forces in the structure.