facade

fa·cade

noun \fə-ˈsäd\

Definition of FACADE

1

: the front of a building; also : any face of a building given special architectural treatment <a museum's east facade>

2

: a false, superficial, or artificial appearance or effect

Variants of FACADE

fa·cade also fa·çade \fə-ˈsäd\

Examples of FACADE

1. the facade of the bank
2. the windowless façade of the skyscraper
3. They were trying to preserve the facade of a happy marriage.
4. I could sense the hostility lurking behind her polite facade.
5. “I mean, don't you find yourself being extra careful about what you say and how you say it? As if you have to be this phony, put on a facade, because you don't want to give them the wrong impression?” —Terry McMillan, Waiting to Exhale, 1992
6. When I watched him in motion picture roles after the war, I knew there was something of honest substance behind that acting façade. —Andrew A. Rooney, And More by Andy Rooney, (1979) 1982
7. … but his magic power of concentration was gone. All the façades he built up between himself and his desperate love never entirely hid it. —May Sarton, Shadow of a Man, 1950

Illustration of FACADE

Origin of FACADE

French façade, from Italian facciata, from faccia face, from Vulgar Latin *facia

First Known Use: circa 1681

Related to FACADE

Synonyms

exterior, front (also façade), face, forehead, forepart

Antonyms

back, rear, rearward, reverse

Related Words

outside, skin, surface, veneer

Near Antonyms

innards, inside, interior

Other Architecture Terms

buttress, casita, cornice, fanlight, garret, lintel, parapet, pilaster, plinth

Rhymes with FACADE

Akkad, Arad, Ashdod, aubade, ballade, Belgrade, bipod, black cod, Black Rod, Cape Cod, couvade, croustade, death squad, dry-shod, ephod, fantod, fly rod, glissade, hot-rod, jihad, lingcod, Nimrod, oeillade, peasecod, pomade, ramrod, Riyadh, roughshod, roulade, saccade, scalade, seedpod, slipshod, sun god, synod, tie-rod, tightwad, tomcod, torsade, tripod, unshod, vice squad