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

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 The weekend includes a masquerade costume contests for adults and kids, a concert and cosplay photo meetups. — Shonda Talerico Dudlicek, chicagotribune.com, "The Bristol Renaissance Faire takes guests back to 1599," 13 May 2018 The shenanigans include a variety of mistaken identities, contrivances, duels and what not, ending in a Turkish masquerade. — Mark Swed, latimes.com, "A little operatic help for newspapers: ‘La Gazzetta’ couldn't be better timed," 30 June 2018 But there's another possible Easter egg: in an SNL sketch from November 2017, Pete wore a black, bunny-eared headpiece to a masquerade ball. — Hanna Lustig, Teen Vogue, "Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson's Relationship: A Timeline," 25 June 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

He was known to the patients and staff of a Nashville children’s hospital as Spider-Man, washing the building’s windows while masquerading as a superhero. — Marwa Eltagouri, Washington Post, "He dressed as Spider-Man and washed windows at a hospital. Turns out he’s a child pornographer.," 18 Apr. 2018 Grenfell fire fraudster gets 18 months in prison: A fraudster who masqueraded as the son of a victim of the Grenfell Tower fire has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. — Washington Post, "World Digest: June 1, 2018," 1 June 2018 By subverting Amazon's domain-resolution service, the attackers masqueraded as cryptocurrency website MyEtherWallet.com and stole about $150,000 in digital coins from unwitting end users. — Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, "Suspicious event hijacks Amazon traffic for 2 hours, steals cryptocurrency," 24 Apr. 2018 Klingons masquerading as dark matter seems about as likely as a blizzard in Miami. — NBC News, "What can a gorilla teach us about the search for space aliens?," 20 Apr. 2018 Credit counseling got a bad name in the 1990s when a bunch of companies masquerading as nonprofits got into the business of offering debt management plans. — Liz Weston, latimes.com, "Their kids are spendthrifts. How do parents protect them with a trust?," 8 Apr. 2018 Nix also discussed how his firm could mask its involvement, either by masquerading as locals using fake IDs and websites or by contracting with others who could do the dirty work. — Philip Bump, Washington Post, "The CEO of the Trump 2016 data firm was recorded pitching illegal overseas campaign tactics," 19 Mar. 2018 The one-plane-swinging, funky-hat-wearing, same-club-length-using scientist masquerading as a world-class golfer was seen using a compass at the Travelers Championship. — Daniel Rapaport, SI.com, "FORE Questions: Breaking Down the New PGA Tour Schedule," 12 July 2018 Dubbed aLTEr, the researchers’ attack causes mobile devices to use a malicious domain name system server that, in turn, redirects the user to a malicious server masquerading as Hotmail. — Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, "LTE wireless connections used by billions aren’t as secure as we thought," 29 June 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.