facade
noun
facade
American
[fuh-sahd, fa-]
/ fəˈsɑd, fæ- /
Or
façade
noun
facades
plural
-
Architecture.
-
the front of a building, especially an imposing or decorative one.
-
any side of a building facing a public way or space and finished accordingly.
-
-
a superficial appearance or illusion of something.
They managed somehow to maintain a facade of wealth.
façade
British
/ fəˈsɑːd, fæ- /
noun
-
the face of a building, esp the main front
-
a front or outer appearance, esp a deceptive one
Usage
What does facade mean? A facade is the front of a building or a side that faces a public area. Facade is used literally to describe a decorative, showy, or onrate piece of architecture that frames the front of a building, as in The architect who designed this building used a showy facade on it to help it stand out from nearby buildings. A facade is also a superficial appearance or an illusion, which can be literal or figurative. If a movie star wears a dark hoodie and sunglasses so they won’t be recognized by the press, they are wearing a literal facade. If that movie star acts completely different from who they actually are or puts on an alternate personality in order to trick or convince people of something, that is a figurative facade. Example: He continually lied to keep up his facade until the whole thing stumbled out of control.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of facade
First recorded in 1650–60; from French, from Upper Italian faciada, Italian facciata, equivalent to facci(a) face + -ata -ade 1
Explanation
A facade is the front of a building, or a kind of front people put up emotionally. If you're mad but acting happy, you're putting up a facade. This word has to do with the outer layer of something. One sense has to do with the front or outside of a building. The other meaning has to do with people who are hiding something. In both cases, the facade could be deceiving. A building with a gorgeous facade isn't necessarily gorgeous inside. A person putting on a facade is definitely putting on a front: the face they're showing to the world doesn't match how they're feeling.
Vocabulary lists containing facade
The Great Gatsby
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The Lightning Thief
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"The Landlady" by Roald Dahl
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Perhaps the same will be true with “Obsession”; Curry Barker’s copycats will try and fail to interpret the trials of dating when personality is a facade, and I’ll be left eating crow.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
"You think of the name, the exposure, all the facade of it all."
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
The prosecutor's office is already investigating a criminal complaint regarding the 958,000-euro renovation of the tower's surrounding 700-metre wall, for which workers were painting a brick-effect concrete facade instead of laying brick cladding.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
The facade has vertical ridges running down the side, which Diamond said was inspired by the ribs of Saguaro cactuses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
I loved Malcolm because Malcolm never lied, unlike the schools and their facade of morality, unlike the streets and their bravado, unlike the world of dreamers.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
And the occasional cracks in what might be called her monumental façade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
The structure collapse with only part of the façade left standing.
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2026
“The façade was badly deteriorated, and the interior was … well, let’s say it was very lived-in,” according to their architect, Ben Bischoff.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 12, 2026
A day later, crews could be seen etching the president's name on the building's façade.
From BBC ● Dec. 27, 2025
Behind his innocent façade of a doctor without prestige there was hidden a terrorist who with his short-legged boots covered the scars that five years in the stocks had left on his legs.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A 2025 simulation of a densely populated neighbourhood in the French city of Lyon showed that air conditioners installed on building facades could locally raise the air temperature by 1.75C.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
Today, many factories are vacant, with for-rent signs hanging on their facades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
There are no such qualms about portraits of 73-year-old strongman leader Emomali Rakhmon -- which have replaced many of the torn-down facades.
From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026
While the grounds have yet to be landscaped, the structures designed to house foster siblings together are clearly taking shape, featuring white facades, gray rooftops, and numerous windows.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 19, 2026
Across their facades ran enormous plates of polished gold.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.