farce

[fahrs]

noun

1. a light, humorous play in which the plot depends upon a skillfully exploited situation rather than upon the development of character.

2. humor of the type displayed in such works.

3. foolish show; mockery; a ridiculous sham.

   Synonyms: travesty, burlesque

4. Cooking.,  forcemeat.

verb (used with object)

farced, farcing 

1. to season (a speech or composition), especially with witty material.

2. Obsolete.,  to stuff; cram.

farce

/ fɑːs /

noun

1. a broadly humorous play based on the exploitation of improbable situations

2. the genre of comedy represented by works of this kind

3. a ludicrous situation or action

4. Also: farcemeat. another name for forcemeat

verb

1. to enliven (a speech, etc) with jokes

2. to stuff (meat, fowl, etc) with forcemeat

Other Word Forms

• unfarced adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of farce¹

First recorded in 1300–50; (for the noun) Middle English fars “stuffing,” from Middle French farce, from Vulgar Latin farsa (unrecorded), noun use of feminine of Latin farsus, earlier fartus “stuffed,” past participle of farcīre “to stuff”; (for the verb) Middle English farsen, from Old French farcir, from Latin farcīre

Word History and Origins

Origin of farce¹

C14 (in the sense: stuffing): from Old French, from Latin farcīre to stuff, interpolate passages (in the mass, in religious plays, etc)

Example Sentences

One sloppy murder attempt becomes full-on farce as Man-soo finds himself shouting marital advice to an intended victim over deafening music before the action devolves into a messy three-way scrum.

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Hasina, who has been tried in absentia, called the tribunal a "farce".

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In the birthplace of Western drama, a classic night unfolded from around the hour-mark, in Greece and in Copenhagen, a tragicomedy and a mystery and a farce.

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He said: "It introduced her unique comic sensibility, with a strong flavour of farce, matched with a campaigning sense of social justice, which played out magnificently over subsequent novels and in her public life."

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In her first interview with the BBC since she fled the country on 5 August 2024, she said her trial in absentia was a "farce" orchestrated by a "kangaroo court" controlled by political opponents.

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Related Words

• absurdity 
• burlesque 
• caricature 
• comedy 
• joke 
• mockery 
• parody 
• sham 
• skit 
• slapstick 
• travesty