charade

[ shuh-reyd; especially British shuh-rahd ]

noun

1. charades, (used with a singular verb) a game in which the players are typically divided into two teams, members of which take turns at acting out in pantomime a word, phrase, title, etc., which the members of their own team must guess.
2. a word or phrase acted out in this game.
3. a blatant pretense or deception, especially something so full of pretense as to be a travesty.

charade

/ ʃəˈrɑːd /

noun

1. an episode or act in the game of charades
2. an absurd act; travesty

Word History and Origins

Origin of charade¹

1770–80; < French < Provençal charrad ( o ) entertainment, equivalent to charr ( á ) to chat, chatter (from imitative root) + -ado -ade ¹

Example Sentences

My charade, as her wealth of Los Angeles information, was doomed from the start, exposed during a particularly brutal bout of freeway traffic.

From Los Angeles Times

In fact, it was his dead body that was flown across the continent in an elaborate charade.

From BBC

Held at the Row DTLA, a retail and shopping complex in downtown Los Angeles, ChainFest was an embarrassment, a marketing charade masquerading as a nostalgia party.

From Los Angeles Times

This particular morning, I learned that my current state of what I always thought of as moderate happiness was all an illusion, a cruel charade perpetrated by the fake news to make all of us ladies feel we were content with life under Joe Biden and the evil Kamala Harris.

From Salon

Then came a midlength windup into a question about Vance’s recent stoking of a racist charade about Haitian immigrants.

From Slate

Related Words

• deception
• farce
• travesty