farce

American  

[fahrs] / fɑrs /

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.

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verb (used with object)

farced, farcing

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

2. Obsolete. to stuff; cram.

farce British  

/ 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

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verb

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

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

Other Word Forms

• unfarced adjective

Etymology

Origin of farce

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

Example Sentences

The Montevideo Convention was written to prevent this kind of farce.

From The Wall Street Journal

The editor, unaware of the farce and buoyed by wartime cheer, immediately agrees.

From Salon

A hint of farce came when the scorecard malfunctioned, showing Wood to be batting despite being in hospital at the time.

From BBC

The end arrived in the sixth round, Joshua knocking Paul to the floor and Young waving the farce to a merciful conclusion.

From The Wall Street Journal

With his audience reach influence and his resources expect to see him back in a boxing ring again no matter how much of a farce this fight was at times.

From BBC

Related Words

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