CHARADE
masquerade, charade
(noun) making a false outward show; “a beggar’s masquerade of wealth”
charade
(noun) a word acted out in an episode of the game of charades
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
charade (plural charades)
(literature, archaic) A genre of riddles where the clues to the answer are descriptions or puns on its syllables, with a final clue to the whole.
(uncommon) A single round of the game charades, an acted form of the earlier riddles.
Synonyms: acted charade, dumb charade (obsolete)
(obsolete) A play resembling the game charades, particularly due to poor acting.
A deception or pretense, originally an absurdly obvious one but now in general use.
Synonyms: farce, sham, Thesaurus:fake
Verb
charade (third-person singular simple present charades, present participle charading, simple past and past participle charaded)
To act out a charade (of); to gesture; to pretend.
Source: Wiktionary
Cha*rade", n. Etym: [F. charade, cf. Pr. charrada long chat, It
ciarlare to chat, whence E. charlatan.]
Definition: A verbal or acted enigma based upon a word which has two or
more significant syllables or parts, each of which, as well as the
word itself, is to be guessed from the descriptions or
representations.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition