farce
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to season (a speech or composition), especially with witty material.
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Obsolete. to stuff; cram.
noun
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a broadly humorous play based on the exploitation of improbable situations
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the genre of comedy represented by works of this kind
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a ludicrous situation or action
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Also: farcemeat. another name for forcemeat
verb
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to enliven (a speech, etc) with jokes
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to stuff (meat, fowl, etc) with forcemeat
Other Word Forms
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
Explanation
A farce is a broad satire or comedy, though now it's used to describe something that is supposed to be serious but has turned ridiculous. If a defendant is not treated fairly, his lawyer might say that the trial is a farce. As a type of comedy, a farce uses improbable situations, physical humor and silliness to entertain. Spoof films such as "Spaceballs," a comedy based on the Star Wars movies, are farces. If a real-life event or situation is a farce, it feels this ridiculous. An election is a farce, if the outcome has been determined before the voting begins. And class can feel like a farce if your substitute teacher knows less about the subject than you do.
Vocabulary lists containing farce
"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 14–18
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Drama Terminology
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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.
The matricide trial of Orestes, portrayed as a shining moment for Athens by Aeschylus in “The Oresteia,” becomes a nihilistic farce in the hands of Euripides.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 6, 2026
The three‑act farce tells the story of a credulous father whose obsession with astrology leads him to force his young daughter to marry an old wigmaker.
From Barron's • May 4, 2026
His lawyers said he was being treated in the Swiss city of Geneva for multiple sclerosis and condemned the trial as a farce.
From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026
To rework Karl Marx’s famous maxim, sometimes historical events can be tragedy and farce at the same time, and repeat themselves in the same register.
From Salon • Mar. 15, 2026
“Well, I understand that the sale is going lousy. Nobody wants to sell the chocolates in the first place and it’s turned into a kind of farce in some classes.”
From "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier
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.
