masque
Americannoun
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masques
plural
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a form of aristocratic entertainment in England in the 16th and 17th centuries, originally consisting of pantomime and dancing but later including dialogue and song, presented in elaborate productions given by amateur and professional actors.
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a dramatic composition for such entertainment.
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a masquerade; masked ball; revel.
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mask.
noun
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a dramatic entertainment of the 16th to 17th centuries in England, consisting of pantomime, dancing, dialogue, and song, often performed at court
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the words and music written for a masque
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short for masquerade
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of masque
From Middle French, dating back to 1505–15; see origin at mask
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.
See Examples For:
The actual transformation occurs in Jonson’s subsequent masque.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2025
The masque, performed by gentle spirits, enchants the betrothed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 13, 2025
The spirit trumpet is one of a number of arcane and intriguing objects in Linder’s exhibition, which is titled The House of Fame, in tribute to a Ben Jonson masque and Chaucer’s dream poem.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 22, 2018
No production, including this one, manages completely to resolve the stylistic tensions built into “Candide,” which hovers between opera and musical theater, and strives to be satirical masque and cautionary tale.
From New York Times ● Jan. 9, 2017
Years ago, her grandfather had taken her to see a masque in Bridgetown, in which a troupe of players from England had acted out the ancient Christmas story.
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
“Including 55 serious operas, 6 cantatas, 53 comic operas, 17 operettas, 6 sing-spiele, 4 ballets, 4 vaudevilles, 2 oratorios, one each of fares, pastorales, masques, ballads and buffas.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 1, 2017
“The Tempest” was performed at the court of King James I, and it may have been intended in part to showcase the multimedia marvels of Jacobean court masques.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 2, 2016
This was a 21st-century equivalent of those court masques loved and indulged in by Tudor monarchs.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 5, 2012
“As You Like It” and “The Tempest” contain festive masques with dancing.
From Washington Post
Inigo Jones, the court architect, for whom Ben Jonson had long supplied the words of masques and complimentary pieces, quarrelled with his great colleague in the year 1634, and applied to William Davenant for verses.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 9 "Dagupan" to "David" by Various
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.
