charade
Americannoun
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charades
plural
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(used with a singular verb) charades, a game in which the players are typically divided into two teams, members of which take turns at acting out in pantomime a word, phrase, title, etc., which the members of their own team must guess.
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a word or phrase acted out in this game.
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a blatant pretense or deception, especially something so full of pretense as to be a travesty.
noun
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an episode or act in the game of charades
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an absurd act; travesty
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of charade
1770–80; < French < Provençal charrad ( o ) entertainment, equivalent to charr ( á ) to chat, chatter (from imitative root) + -ado -ade 1
Explanation
A charade is something done just for show. Your devotion to vegetarianism would be a charade if you actually ate cheeseburgers when no one was looking. When you want things to appear different than they really are, you might be tempted to put on a charade, like a charade of happiness when you are really feeling down. Charade is also the name for a silently-acted clue in the game called Charades — which originally wasn't silent. It used indirect descriptions of the words.
Vocabulary lists containing charade
"The Stolen Party"
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Glitch
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The Tower of Nero
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The charade will help Stewart close a business deal and make him the favored Whitfield to take over the family’s real-estate empire.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Dr Bączyk-Bell said the process had been a "facetious charade" and it was a "false equivalence" to talk about hurt caused to those who had been theologically opposed to the idea of marriage equality.
From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2026
Why force myself to go through with this charade again?
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 27, 2025
The album is called “The Real Me,” and the whole thing is a charade — and very Kyle Mooney.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2025
She glanced at the open book, turned it right side up, and then gave up the charade completely, closing it and tossing it to the floor.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
Instead, they take turns to silently perform a series of moves and poses that look, to the untrained eye, as if they are playing charades or, as they writhe on the ground, breakdancing.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
In playing charades with our friends, for example, we aim to prevail, but only in fun.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
"We divided attendees into groom and bride's teams and organised games like charades and guessing who the relative is from a stereotype," said CEO Anurag Pandey.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2025
David Patrick Kelly as King Sextimus the Silent spends much of his stage time engaged in a series of charades.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2024
“I’m glad you’re being honest with me; I’ll be honest with you; no more charades between us,” the Count said, putting down a number of notebooks and quill pens and ink bottles.
From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
