façade

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Contents

English [edit]

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Alternative forms [edit]

Etymology [edit]

Borrowing from French façade, from Italian facciata, a derivation of faccia (“front”), from Latin facies (“face”); compare face.

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

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 outward appearance; a front.

Quotations [edit]

  • 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, volume 2, page 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 Chambers, chapter 5, The Younger Set[1]:
    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 [edit]

Coordinate terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

face of a building
front of anything
deceptive outward appearance
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

References [edit]

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

Dutch [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From French façade, itself from Italian facciata, a derivation of faccia (“front”), from Latin facies (“face”); compare face

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

façade f (plural façades, diminutive façadetje)

  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 [edit]

French [edit]

Etymology [edit]

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

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

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)
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