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facade - 4 dictionary results

fa⋅cade

  [fuh-sahd, fa-]
Use facade in a Sentence
–noun
1. Architecture.
a. the front of a building, esp. an imposing or decorative one.
b. any side of a building facing a public way or space and finished accordingly.
2. a superficial appearance or illusion of something: They managed somehow to maintain a facade of wealth.
Also, fa⋅çade.

Origin:
1650–60; < F < Upper It faciada, It facciata, equiv. to facci(a) face + -ata -ade 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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fa·çade also fa·cade   (fə-säd')   
n.  
  1. The face of a building, especially the principal face.
  2. An artificial or deceptive front: ideological slogans that were a façade for geopolitical power struggles.

[French, from Italian facciata, from faccia, face, from Vulgar Latin *facia, from Latin faciēs; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Facade

Fa`[,c]ade"\ (f[.a]`s[.a]d" or f[.a]`s[=a]d"), n. [F., fr. It. facciata, fr. faccia face, L. facies. See Face.] (Arch.) The front of a building; esp., the principal front, having some architectural pretensions. Thus a church is said to have its fa[,c]ade unfinished, though the interior may be in use.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : facade
Spanish: fachada,
German: die Fassade,
Japanese: 正面
More Translations »

facade 
1656, from Fr. façade, It. facciata, from faccia "face," from V.L. *facia (see face).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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