facade

Pronunciation: /fəˈsɑːd/

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun the face or front of a building
  2. noun a showy misrepresentation intended to conceal something unpleasant

Etymology

Borrowed from French façade, from Italian facciata, a derivation of faccia (“front”), from Latin faciēs (“face”); compare face.

In classic literature

Synonyms

frontage, frontal

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
front
Narrower (hyponyms)
frontispiece

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