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• facade
  facade
• façade
  façade

  noun

  the face of a building, esp the main front

Trivia Time

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

Test Your Knowledge

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

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

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

Munich's Allianz Arena is sculpted by thousands of diamond-shaped inflatable cushions, while Sydney's similarly named Allianz Stadium has a flatter facade smoothed with long bronze fins.

From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026

Despite the facade of public office, human nature remains.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

There is plenty to protest in the plan: Trump is threatening to install gold accents throughout the buildings, and renderings show a new covered walkway that could interrupt the clean lines of Saarinen’s facade.

From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026

The latest proposal would instead add “Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump” to the facade and name the surrounding grounds “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026

Jessie had built the water wall along the eastern facade of the brownstone, inspired by a science class during which her teacher showed them different cartoons of Rube Goldberg machines.

From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser

Munich's Allianz Arena is sculpted by thousands of diamond-shaped inflatable cushions, while Sydney's similarly-named Allianz Stadium has a flatter façade smoothed with long bronze fins.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

Mocked by some as the “Darth Vader” façade for its bizarrely helmeted Roman soldiers, the Passion façade embodies the New Testament story of betrayal, suffering and transcendence in angular, expressionistic figures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

On a severely damaged façade there's a sign:

From BBC ● May 23, 2026

A Hezbollah flag had been put on what was left of the façade of his grocery, destroyed after an Israeli air strike hit the building next door last month.

From BBC ● May 13, 2026

The mirrored façade of one store on 125th Street was smashed and I passed to see a group of boys watching their distorted images as they danced before the jagged glass.

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison

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

The contrast between restrained facades and secretive decoration gets to the heart of the Genoese mentality, says Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano, who divides his time between his native Genoa and Paris.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 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

I knew the streets, the towers, the somber courts and ways and facades of the Palace.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin