English

Alternative forms

• facade

Noun

façade ‎(plural façades)

1. (architecture) The face of a building, especially the front view or elevation.
   • 1865, James Fergusson, A History of Architecture in All Countries

     In Egypt the façades of their rock-cut tombs were […] ornamented so simply and unobtrusively as rather to belie than to announce their internal magnificence.

   • 1880, Charles Eliot Norton, Historical Studies of Church-Building in the Middle Ages

     Like so many of the finest churches, [the cathedral of Siena] was furnished with a plain substantial front wall, intended to serve as the backing and support of an ornamental façade.

2. (by extension) The face or front (most visible side) of any other thing, such as an organ.
3. (figuratively) A deceptive or insincere outward appearance; a front.

Quotations

• 1812, Antonio de Alcedo and George Alexander Thompson [tr.], The geographical and historical dictionary of America and the West Indies: containing an entire translation of the Spanish work of Colonel Don Antonio de Alcedo … with large additions and compilations from modern voyages and travels, and from original and authentic information, Vol.2, p.13, “Demerara” (J. Carpenter)

  The plantations are regularly laid out in lots along the sea-shore, called façades, about a quarter of a mile wide, and extending ¼ t[ent]hs of a mile back into the country.

• 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter V”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:

  The house of Ruthven was a small but ultra-modern limestone affair, between Madison and Fifth ; […]. As a matter of fact its narrow ornate façade presented not a single quiet space that the eyes might rest on after a tiring attempt to follow and codify the arabesques, foliations, and intricate vermiculations of what some disrespectfully dubbed as “ near-aissance.”

Synonyms

• (face of a building): face, front, frontage
• (deceptive outward appearance): appearance, cover, front, guise, pretence, show

Coordinate terms

• See also Wikisaurus:fake

Translations

References

1. ↑ The Concise Oxford English Dictionary [Eleventh Edition]

Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology

From French façade, itself from Italian facciata.

Noun

façade f ‎(plural façades, diminutive façadetje n)

1. façade (of a building)
2. façade (deceptive outward appearance)
3. (metonymy) face

   Als ik jullie façades hier nog eens zie, verdomde voyeurs, riskeer je zomaar geen trap voor de broek maar een vertimmerde façade

   If I see your faces here again, damned peeping toms, you don't just risk a kick in the pants but a remodeled front

Derived terms

• façadisme n

French

Etymology

From Italian facciata, a derivation of faccia ‎(“front”), from Latin facies ‎(“face”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa.sad/

Noun

façade f ‎(plural façades)

1. façade (of a building)

   L'entrée principale, au centre de la façade, est précédée d'un perron.

2. façade (deceptive outward appearance)

   Je me charge de vous montrer Lisbonne. Une belle façade, oui! mais vous verrez ce qu'il y a derrière! (Simone de Beauvoir, Les Mandarins, 1954, p. 88)

Descendents

• German: Fassade