facade

noun

fə-ˈsäd How to pronounce facade (audio)
variants also façade
Definition of facadenext
1
as in face
a forward part or surface all of the stores in the mall have facades that are in keeping with the style of a 19th-century American village

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in pretense
a display of emotion or behavior that is insincere or intended to deceive his interest in acting is just a facade—he joined the drama club to meet girls

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in veneer
a deceptively attractive external appearance the company's facade of success collapsed when it was revealed that its financial officers had been cooking the books for years

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of facade Harrods, which is home to a permanent Moët & Chandon bar, will host a separate pop-up from March 10 to 30, with a takeover of its facade on Brompton Road from March 17 to 30. — Joelle Diderich, WWD, 1 Mar. 2025 But that was only the starting point for the show’s rich-looking facade. — Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 27 Feb. 2025 The CenterPoint Energy Plaza's damage to its double-skin facade was concentrated on one corner that had two tall buildings facing it, as was the damage to two corners of the El Paso Energy building. — Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 21 Feb. 2025 The hotel, with its iconic 66-spire facade, made its debut in 1965 with an expansive marina and its signature rotating rooftop lounge, the Pier Top, that attracted celebrities from Walter Cronkite to Frank Sinatra with its glitzy views of the Atlantic. — Mae Hamilton, Travel + Leisure, 20 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for facade
Recent Examples of Synonyms for facade
  1. face
  2. pretense
  3. veneer
  4. surface
  5. show
  6. front
  7. gloss
  8. disguise
Noun
  • Freezing-stinging waves, spray wetting their faces.
    — Joyce Carol Oates, The New Yorker, 16 Mar. 2025
  • As soon as the celebrations started, City players headed down the tunnel, disappointment etched on their faces.
    — Charlotte Harpur, The Athletic, 16 Mar. 2025
Definition of face
Noun
  • Lottie’s wellness cult is no more, although an incriminating video tape gives the adults at least some pretense of narrative tension.
    — Abby Monteil, Them, 13 Mar. 2025
  • During this and other trials, Chase abandoned all pretense of impartiality, openly siding with federal prosecutors.
    — Marianne Holdzkom, The Conversation, 12 Mar. 2025
Definition of pretense
Noun
  • Though technically a burl veneer, the patterning varies from one design to another for a one-of-a-kind look.
    — Shoko Wanger, Architectural Digest, 28 Feb. 2025
  • Despite her recent opposition to Markle, McCain famously took a stance against the British monarchy in the past — enough so that her prior observations about Markle and Oprah Winfrey's contributions to chipping away at the royal system's veneer during an episode of The View went viral online.
    — EW.com, EW.com, 20 Feb. 2025
Definition of veneer
Noun
  • While many surfaces can host biofilms — the plaque on your teeth is a biofilm — plastics appear to provide an especially strong bond that attracts the most prolific bacteria, according to the study.
    — Sandee LaMotte, CNN, 11 Mar. 2025
  • The virus can spread when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes, or a person can contract it by touching an infected surface, according to the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
    — Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2025
Definition of surface
Noun
  • This sophomore outing will unspool over the show's internal timespan of four years, with its dozen chapters cut into four three-episode slices.
    — Jeff Spry, Space.com, 10 Mar. 2025
  • The show proved incredibly popular upon its debut, with an average weekly audience of 20 million viewers during its first season.
    — Joe Otterson, Variety, 10 Mar. 2025
Definition of show
Noun
  • Firstly, Russia, has been inching forward in recent months on the eastern front (albeit at a huge cost to personnel and equipment), and inflicting almost daily aerial attacks on Ukraine’s cities.
    — Clare Sebastian, CNN, 14 Mar. 2025
  • The front features a trio of displays—a digital gauge cluster, the infotainment system, and an optional passenger screen—that span the length of the dashboard.
    — Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 14 Mar. 2025
Definition of front
Noun
  • This gloss comes in a ton of different shades and is 15% off right now.
    — ABBY KASS, Miami Herald, 3 Mar. 2025
  • Better yet, choose a specific tire foam/shine product to give the tires a wet-look gloss and further protect the rubber compound against fading and cracking.
    — Jim Gorzelany, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2025
Definition of gloss
Noun
  • When a home came up for sale in her friends' neighborhood, Kristi went to extreme lengths to keep her interest a secret, even wearing a disguise to view the house.
    — Ronnie Li, USA TODAY, 18 Mar. 2025
  • That the four central characters don disguises, along with the revelers who have been required to come costumed, propels the plot, as well as adds a note of Shakespearean carnivalesque.
    — Elizabeth Toohey, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Mar. 2025
Definition of disguise

Browse Nearby Words

facade
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Facade.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/facade. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.

Copy Citation

Share

More from Merriam-Webster on facade

Nglish: Translation of facade for Spanish Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about facade

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

The Difference Between 'i.e.' and 'e.g.'

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

More Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

What do SCOTUS, POTUS, and FLOTUS mean?

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden

More Words with Remarkable Origins

Terroir, Oenophile, & Magnum: Ten Words About Wine

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments
See More

Popular Features

See More

The Difference Between 'i.e.' and 'e.g.'

What do SCOTUS, POTUS, and FLOTUS mean?

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
dog-in-disguise
Rhyme Disguise Quiz Pair up words that look different but sound alike.
See All