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From Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, many of us are familiar with farce in its dramatic sense. However, when farce first appeared in English, it had to do with cookery, not comedy. In the 14th century, English adopted farce from Middle French with its original meaning of "forcemeat"—that is, a highly seasoned, minced meat or fish often served as a stuffing. In the 16th century, English imported the word again, this time to refer to a kind of knockabout comedy already popular in France. French farce had its origins in the 13th-century practice of "stuffing" Latin church texts with explanatory phrases. By the 15th century, a similar practice of inserting unscripted buffoonery into religious plays had arisen. Such farces—which included clowning, acrobatics, reversal of social roles, and indecency—soon developed into a distinct dramatic genre and spread rapidly in various forms throughout Europe.
Examples of farce in a Sentence
Clayton Davis, Variety, 24 Oct. 2025
His movies — farces, fables, experiments — reside in surreal worlds of their own.
—Jake Coyle, Boston Herald, 24 Oct. 2025
Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 23 Aug. 2021
Others might go right to farce for the 60-game schedule, the make-it-up-as-you-go-along rule changes, the runner-on-second rule to start extra innings and three-batters-per-pitcher minimum.
—Evan Grant, Dallas News, 28 Oct. 2020
See All Example Sentences for farce
Cite this Entry
“Farce.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/farce. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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