facade

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   The front exterior wall or face of a building, especially its main street-facing side.

   Grammar: Takes a plural for more than one front: ornate facades.

   Patterns

   • a stone facade
   • the facade of a building

   Scaffolding covered the hotel facade for most of the spring.

   The bank preserved the marble facade during the renovation.

2. 2nounusually singularfigurative

   A false or misleading appearance that hides someone's true feelings or character.

   Grammar: Usually singular and often used with of: a facade of confidence.

   Patterns

   • a facade of something
   • behind the facade
   • maintain a facade

   His cheerfulness was a facade that hid exhaustion.

   Behind the calm facade, the team was worried about deadlines.

Word forms

Common combinations

ornate facade

Visitors photograph the church's ornate facade every morning.

facade of calm

She kept a facade of calm during the announcement.

behind the facade

Behind the facade of success, the business was losing money.

restore a facade

The city paid to restore the facade of the old theater.

Synonyms and how they differ

frontage

Frontage is technical for a building's front along a street; facade is common in architecture and criticism.

front

Front is everyday and broader; facade can sound more architectural or artificial.

mask

Mask works figuratively for hiding feelings, but not for the physical face of a building.

pretense

Pretense is the act of pretending; facade is the impressive false surface others see.

Word family

façade noun

A common accented spelling of the same word.

Commonly confused: facade or face?

Practice

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