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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

Designed by renowned architect Eero Saarinen and opened in 1962, the terminal has a dramatic, glass-walled facade with a sloping roofline that recalls a wingspan.

From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026

BALTIMORE—With its boarded-up windows and peeling facade, the vacant building didn’t seem like the kind of house that would prompt a bidding war.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 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

A pro-government slogan for former President Nicolás Maduro, “Venceremos,” or we shall overcome, is visible on the facade of a building at the housing complex in Caraballeda.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

“Well, behind my fearless facade, little brother, I am regularly scared witless by all manner of things. But how stupid of us. Why on earth didn't we just swap rooms?”

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

Designed by Gaudí, the Nativity façade is both naturalistic and overflowing with natural imagery: lilies and palm trees, a tortoise and sea turtle, insects and frogs, sheep and ducks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 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

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 nearby building had deep fissured in its façade.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

Many have an ornate façade of red brick, with four- or five-step stoops leading to the front door.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

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

Designed to blend into the historic Baroque park, they are notable for their curved ceramic facades, daylight from skylights, accessibility features, drinking fountains -- and free use.

From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026

A 2025 simulation of a densely populated neighbourhood in the French city of Lyon showed that air conditioners installed on building facades could locally raise the air temperature by 1.75C.

From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026

The ornate exterior, with its tapering towers and multiple facades, has an almost organic quality.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026

George Orwell—a keen observer of what lay behind the glitter of constructed facades, social and otherwise—had met Julian on several occasions, and had not liked him.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt