masquerade
[mas-kuh-reyd]
- a party, dance, or other festive gathering of persons wearing masks and other disguises, and often elegant, historical, or fantastic costumes.
- a costume or disguise worn at such a gathering.
- false outward show; façade; pretense: a hypocrite's masquerade of virtue.
- activity, existence, etc., under false pretenses: a rich man's masquerade as a beggar.
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- to go about under false pretenses or a false character; assume the character of; give oneself out to be: to masquerade as a former Russian count.
- to disguise oneself.
- to take part in a masquerade.
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Origin of masquerade
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com1. mummery.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
show, color, mask, circus, revel, costume, facade, impersonation, deception, pretense, cloak, imposture, festivity, screen, pose, front, veil, cover-up, carnival, coverExamples from the Web for masquerade
Contemporary Examples
It builds to a masquerade ball, in which Not Harry and the women don masks and commence flirting.
They masquerade as intellectual contests, but are really just showcases for rhetorical cleverness and public charisma.
He was supposed to come back to “masquerade the relationship,” but no such luck.
He escorts her to masquerade parties, takes her sailing on his yacht, force-feeds her oysters.
And it says something depressing about our country that it is permitted to masquerade as the former.
The Freedom to Be Fat? The Politics of Movie Popcorn, Obama, and the FDAMichael Tomasky
April 8, 2012
Historical Examples
And it was my fate to hear all this last night at the masquerade.
Tales And Novels, Volume 3 (of 10)Maria Edgeworth
Tell me the meaning of this masquerade; and why you have attempted so desperate an adventure?
The Last of the MohicansJames Fenimore Cooper
Whatever the motive for his masquerade, it was not to attract anything feminine.
It Happened in EgyptC. N. Williamson
Are you dressed for a masquerade, and is this a time to go masked?
The Middle Class GentlemanMoliere
And then too, Madame, we must try to help Cléonte's plan by supporting his masquerade.
The Middle Class GentlemanMoliere
masquerade
- a party or other gathering to which the guests wear masks and costumes
- the disguise worn at such a function
- a pretence or disguise
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- to participate in a masquerade; disguise oneself
- to dissemble
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Word Origin
C16: from Spanish mascarada, from mascara mask
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for masquerade
n.
1590s, "assembly of people wearing masks and disguises," from French mascarade or Spanish mascarada "masked party or dance," from Italian mascarata "a ball at which masks are worn," variant of mascherata "masquerade," from maschera (see mask (n.)). Figurative sense of "false outward show" is from 1670s.
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v.
1650s, from masquerade (n.). Related: Masqueraded; masquerading.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper