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• facade
  facade
• façade
  façade

  noun

  the face of a building, esp the main front

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What style of architecture featured light, asymmetrical, and elaborate facades?

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facade

American  

[fuh-sahd, fa-] / fəˈsɑd, fæ- /

Or façade

noun

• facades
  plural

1. Architecture.

   1. 

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

   2. 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.

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façade British  

/ fəˈsɑːd, fæ- /

noun

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

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

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Usage

What does facade mean? A facade is the front of a building or a side that faces a public area. Facade is used literally to describe a decorative, showy, or onrate piece of architecture that frames the front of a building, as in The architect who designed this building used a showy facade on it to help it stand out from nearby buildings. A facade is also a superficial appearance or an illusion, which can be literal or figurative. If a movie star wears a dark hoodie and sunglasses so they won’t be recognized by the press, they are wearing a literal facade. If that movie star acts completely different from who they actually are or puts on an alternate personality in order to trick or convince people of something, that is a figurative facade. Example: He continually lied to keep up his facade until the whole thing stumbled out of control.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• facades
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of facade

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

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Explanation

A facade is the front of a building, or a kind of front people put up emotionally. If you're mad but acting happy, you're putting up a facade. This word has to do with the outer layer of something. One sense has to do with the front or outside of a building. The other meaning has to do with people who are hiding something. In both cases, the facade could be deceiving. A building with a gorgeous facade isn't necessarily gorgeous inside. A person putting on a facade is definitely putting on a front: the face they're showing to the world doesn't match how they're feeling.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

facade façade facades

Graffiti covered its charred facade, and it became a source of frustration for the neighborhood, attracting squatters and illegal garbage dumping.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

The project also includes restoration of the facade and polishing of its famous stainless steel crown.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

The steady decrease in quality is unmistakable, and it’s perfectly conceivable that even a day-one Marvel enthusiast would feel the facade crumbling at some point.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026

One restaurant’s facade was covered in 7-foot portraits of the U.A.E.’s rulers and dozens of Emirati flags.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Eleven windows on the facade, most of the glass out.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

Today, visitors enter via the ornate Nativity façade, on the church’s eastern side.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Still pending are the sculpting of the south-facing Glory façade, the eventual front of the church, celebrating Christ triumphant, and the addition of a grand entrance staircase envisioned by Gaudí.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

A planning application, lodged in March, would have seen the building clad in a false façade including an advertising screen to hide building work prior to the fire.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

Exposed rooms where families once lived can be seen, and Iranian flags fly from the shattered façade.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

I hurried to my address and was challenged by the sheer height of the white stone with its sculptured bronze façade.

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison

His photographs capture not only the movie houses but their ornate facades and decay -- a record of a cultural landscape disappearing as cinemas are demolished, converted into multiplexes or left to crumble.

From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026

He’d return with images of abandoned stairwells, dilapidated neon signage, Art Deco theater facades, boiler room control valves.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

The restaurant experience was the visitors’ introduction to the officious inanities of the Soviet Union, a place of facades and concealment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

Not only that, but a lot of “Love Story” takes place behind the public facades of Kennedy and Bessette, in the offices of Calvin Klein and inside Kennedy’s Tribeca loft.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

The facades had soaring white columns like Roman temples.

From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan

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