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

Hitler ran a regime that engaged in elaborate charades to bamboozle sympathetic and influential foreigners about the nature of the Nazi state.

From Salon

After nearly a decade of being forced to take the host of “The Apprentice” seriously, Democrats are increasingly calling “bulls**t” on the whole charade.

From Salon

Related Words

• deception
• farce
• travesty