facade

or fa·çade

[ fuh-sahd, fa- ]
See synonyms for facade on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Architecture.

    • the front of a building, especially an imposing or decorative one.

    • any side of a building facing a public way or space and finished accordingly.

  2. a superficial appearance or illusion of something: They managed somehow to maintain a facade of wealth.

Origin of facade

1
First recorded in 1650–60; from French, from Upper Italian faciada, Italian facciata, equivalent to facci(a) face + -ata -ade1

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use facade in a sentence

  • The windows are ornamented by tracery, and the façade is enriched by a free use of carving.

    Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham | Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell
  • Below it is the café and restaurant de la Rotonde, a very well-built looking place, with its rounding façade on the corner.

    The Real Latin Quarter | F. Berkeley Smith
  • There are narrow sash windows on the façade and a plain square-transomed doorway with a center wrought-iron balcony overhead.

  • The college is a very fine building, but is unfortunately hemmed in by a number of other buildings which hide its façade.

    Friend Mac Donald | Max O'Rell
  • Not a drop of rain fell in the river; the immense façade opposite them was as dry as a skull; yet here was this muddy cataract.

    Overland | John William De Forest

British Dictionary definitions for façade

façade

facade

/ (fəˈsɑːd, fæ-) /


noun
  1. the face of a building, esp the main front

  2. a front or outer appearance, esp a deceptive one

Origin of façade

1
C17: from French, from Italian facciata, from faccia face

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012