farce
[fahrs]
- a light, humorous play in which the plot depends upon a skillfully exploited situation rather than upon the development of character.
- humor of the type displayed in such works.
- foolish show; mockery; a ridiculous sham.
- Cookery. forcemeat.
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- to season (a speech or composition), especially with witty material.
- Obsolete. to stuff; cram.
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Origin of farce
1300–50; (noun) Middle English fars stuffing < Middle French farce < Vulgar Latin *farsa, noun use of feminine of Latin farsus, earlier fartus stuffed, past participle of farcīre to stuff; (v.) Middle English farsen < Old French farcir < Latin farcīre
Synonyms
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com3. burlesque, travesty.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for farce
Contemporary Examples
History repeats itself,” Marx famously wrote, “first as tragedy, second as farce.
As Marx said, history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.
The New Auteur of Iran: Asghar Farhadi Reinvents Domestic Drama With ‘The Past’Jimmy So
December 26, 2013
As The Sting Man shows, Abscam was becoming so outrageous that it was turning into an American Farce.
Those remarks turned a political case into a farce that involved corruption and sexual trysts.
I have said from day one that this round of peace negotiations is a farce and this week is proof that they absolutely are.
Historical Examples
What a farce it was to talk to her about helping those poor fellows!
Ester Ried Yet SpeakingIsabella Alden
Burlesque, farce and extravagance of situation and dialogue.
The Dramatic Values in PlautusWilton Wallace Blancke
His lower orders are all food for comedy or farce: he will not treat them seriously.
The Man ShakespeareFrank Harris
We did not want the farce, that night, even as our rightful due.
Meadow GrassAlice Brown
The world is a stage, and life is a farce, and he that laughs most has most profit of the performance.
Maid MarianThomas Love Peacock
farce
- a broadly humorous play based on the exploitation of improbable situations
- the genre of comedy represented by works of this kind
- a ludicrous situation or action
- Also: farcemeat another name for forcemeat
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- to enliven (a speech, etc) with jokes
- to stuff (meat, fowl, etc) with forcemeat
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Word Origin
C14 (in the sense: stuffing): from Old French, from Latin farcīre to stuff, interpolate passages (in the mass, in religious plays, etc)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for farce
n.
late 14c., "force-meat, stuffing;" 1520s, as a type of dramatic work, from Middle French farce "comic interlude in a mystery play" (16c.), literally "stuffing," from Old French farcir "to stuff," (13c.), from Latin farcire "to stuff, cram," of unknown origin, perhaps related to frequens "crowded."
The pseudo-Latin farsia was applied 13c. in France and England to praise phrases inserted into liturgical formulae (e.g. between kyrie and eleison), then in Old French farce was extended to the impromptu buffoonery among actors that was a feature of religious stage plays.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper