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kayfabe

American  
[kay-fayb] / ˈkeɪ feɪb /

noun

  1. Wrestling. the portrayal of staged events, narratives, and characters as real.

  2. an elaborate, performative fiction.

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.

They’ve become experts in kayfabe, the dramatic art of masking fake conflict as real.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026

There is more than a little kayfabe at play in this indignant back and forth about scheduling.

From Slate • Jul. 20, 2021

Donaghy appeared to help Holliday win the match creating kayfabe controversy in MLW.

From Fox News • Jan. 29, 2021

I don’t want to break too much kayfabe.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 1, 2020

But WWE is kayfabe, as the industry calls it, scripted competitions, outcomes and rivalries.

From Washington Post • Apr. 29, 2020

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.