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



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Word of the Day

3 April 2025

WHOLE

(noun) an assemblage of parts that is regarded as a single entity; “how big is that part compared to the whole?”; “the team is a unit”


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