masquerade

noun

mas·quer·ade | \ ˌmas-kə-ˈrād

Definition of masquerade

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a : a social gathering of persons wearing masks and often fantastic costumes

b : a costume for wear at such a gathering

2 : an action or appearance that is mere disguise or show

masquerade

verb

masqueraded; masquerading

Definition of masquerade (Entry 2 of 2)

intransitive verb

1a : to disguise oneself also : to go about disguised

b : to take part in a masquerade

2 : to assume the appearance of something one is not

Other Words from masquerade Synonyms Example Sentences Learn More about masquerade

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Examples of masquerade in a Sentence

Noun

She could not keep up the masquerade any longer. although she was deeply bored, she maintained a masquerade of polite interest as her guest droned on

Verb

He was masquerading under a false name.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

So channel your inner artisan, and try these designs or use them as a springboard for your own masquerade ideas. — Shelley Wolson, Woman's Day, "Fancy Faces: DIY Halloween Masks," 22 Sep. 2010 In fact, the leaf-imitating spider is so good at its masquerade that only two have been found: the adult female that Kuntner found and a juvenile discovered in the same area after days of searching. — Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, "Newly Discovered Spider Looks Suspiciously Like a Leaf," 16 Nov. 2016 Moda Operandi founder Lauren Santo Domingo and her husband and Andrés Santo Domingo chaired the annual black tie masquerade alongside his sister-in-law, British royal Lady Charlotte and his brother Alejandro Santo Domingo. — Sarah Bray, Town & Country, "Two Powerhouse Fashion Families Host a Masquerade Ball," 14 Apr. 2017 The practical joke, modeled on Bobby Valentine’s famous in-game masquerade in 1999, was quintessential Ichiro, executed only after thorough preparation. — David Waldstein, New York Times, "Ichiro Suzuki’s New Job Comes With Most of the Old Trappings," 5 July 2018 Chanel also custom-made both of the bride’s veils—a long cathedral for the ceremony and the short chin-length blusher for the Venetian masquerade reception—as well as her shoes. — Alexandra Macon, Vogue, "This Bride Wore Chanel Haute Couture to Her Garden Wedding in California," 21 June 2018 Information about someone’s personal or family health history could be used for blackmail or phishing, or help an adversary masquerade as someone else. — Derek Hawkins, Washington Post, "The Cybersecurity 202: Why cybersecurity experts are so concerned about the health-care industry," 16 May 2018 Scorpion masquerades as self-examination, which only heightens its overwrought sentimentality: Side A grapples with ego, legacy, and fame, while Side B shifts to downtempo. — Jason Parham, WIRED, "With Scorpion, #DrakeSZN Is Back—as Overwrought as Ever," 2 July 2018 The exhibit pieces together nine different performances across eight cities in six different countries, connecting Carnival and performance, masquerade, social criticism and transnationalism. — Audrey Gorden, RedEye Chicago, "8 Chicago museum exhibits to check out in May," 10 May 2017

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Crooks can also take over targets’ cellular numbers by masquerading as the rightful owners. — Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, "Database leak exposes millions of two-factor codes and reset links sent by SMS," 16 Nov. 2018 To better hide itself, the payload was configured to masquerade as a part of the Pandora music-streaming service. — Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, "Russia’s Cozy Bear comes out of hiding with post-election spear-phishing blitz," 20 Nov. 2018 These accounts, working in concert as part of large networks, pushed hundreds of thousands of inflammatory tweets, from fictitious tales of Democrats practicing witchcraft to hardline posts from users masquerading as Black Lives Matter activists. — Ben Popken /, NBC News, "Now available: More than 200,000 deleted Russian troll tweets," 14 Feb. 2018 The behaviors deemed abusive cover a range of user-hostile things, such as ads that masquerade as system error messages, ads with fake close boxes that actually activate an ad when clicked, phishing, and malware. — Peter Bright, Ars Technica, "Chrome 71 will block any and all ads on sites with “abusive experiences”," 5 Nov. 2018 This sounds like a cliché, but much of the truth about what’s happening in Wind Gap is masquerading behind platitudes — like the idea that the women are all talk, too gentle and passive for murder. — Aja Romano, Vox, "In Sharp Objects, secrets are the sharpest weapons of all," 30 July 2018 In theaters, audiences got a taste of a murderous coven masquerading as a ballet company in Dakota Johnson-starrer Suspiria. — Kelsea Stahler, Teen Vogue, "The Resurgence of Witches in Pop Culture Like Sabrina, AHS "Coven," and "Charmed" Reflects Women in the Real World," 14 Nov. 2018 In essence, Rao was asked to step into a creative dispute masquerading as a legal one. — Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica, "How a CEO fiddled while beloved board game Glory to Rome crashed and burned," 8 Sep. 2018 The issue of fake social media accounts masquerading as public figures is acute. — Jack Nicas, New York Times, "Oprah, Is That You? On Social Media, the Answer Is Often No.," 7 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'masquerade.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.