Meaning & use
farce
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Meanings
nouncountable
A comic play or film with absurd situations and exaggerated characters.
Grammar: Countable: a farce, two farces.
Patterns
- a farce by someone
- a classic farce
We saw a French farce at the theater last night.
The movie is a hilarious farce about mistaken identity.
He wrote several farces in the 1920s.
nouncountable
An absurd or chaotic situation that seems ridiculous.
Grammar: Often used in the phrase 'a complete farce'.
Patterns
- a complete farce
- the whole thing was a farce
The meeting turned into a farce when nobody could agree.
The trial was a farce from start to finish.
Organizing the event was a total farce.
Word forms
| plural | farces |
|---|
Common combinations
- a complete farce
- The election was a complete farce.
- turn into a farce
- The peaceful protest turned into a farce.
- political farce
- The scandal became a political farce.
- slapstick farce
- The play is a slapstick farce with lots of physical humor.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mockery
- Stronger and more disapproving; suggests something is made fun of or treated with contempt.
- travesty
- More formal and serious; implies a shocking or unfair distortion of something important.
- comedy
- Neutral word for any humorous work; 'farce' is a specific type of comedy with absurd situations.
Opposites
Word family
- farcical adjective
- Ridiculously absurd or chaotic.
- farcically adverb
- In a ridiculous or absurd way.
Commonly confused: farce or force? farce or farse?
farce vs force
Pronounced the same in some accents but means physical power or strength; 'farce' is a comedy or absurd situation.
farce vs farse
Not a standard English word; the correct spelling is 'farce'.
Practice
The whole ceremony was a ______ — nothing went according to plan.
Choose one answer.
'Farce' means an absurd or chaotic situation, which fits the context. 'Force' means physical power, 'farse' is misspelled, and 'farced' is not a standard noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “farce”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.