farce

[ fahrs ]
See synonyms for: farcefarcedfarcing on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a light, humorous play in which the plot depends upon a skillfully exploited situation rather than upon the development of character.

  2. humor of the type displayed in such works.

  1. foolish show; mockery; a ridiculous sham.

  2. Cooking. forcemeat.

verb (used with object),farced, farc·ing.
  1. to season (a speech or composition), especially with witty material.

  2. Obsolete. to stuff; cram.

Origin of farce

1
First recorded in 1300–50; (for the noun) Middle English fars “stuffing,” from Middle French farce, from Vulgar Latin farsa (unrecorded), noun use of feminine of Latin farsus, earlier fartus “stuffed,” past participle of farcīre “to stuff”; (for the verb) Middle English farsen, from Old French farcir, from Latin farcīre

Other words for farce

Other words from farce

  • un·farced, adjective

Words Nearby farce

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How to use farce in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for farce

farce

/ (fɑːs) /


noun
  1. a broadly humorous play based on the exploitation of improbable situations

  2. the genre of comedy represented by works of this kind

  1. a ludicrous situation or action

  2. Also: farcemeat another name for forcemeat

verb(tr) obsolete
  1. to enliven (a speech, etc) with jokes

  2. to stuff (meat, fowl, etc) with forcemeat

Origin of farce

1
C14 (in the sense: stuffing): from Old French, from Latin farcīre to stuff, interpolate passages (in the mass, in religious plays, etc)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012