farce

See also: Farce

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɑːs/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: färs, IPA^(key): /fɑɹs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)s

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle French farce (“comic interlude in a mystery play”).

Noun

farce (countable and uncountable, plural farces)

1. (uncountable) A style of humor marked by broad improbabilities with little regard to regularity or method.
2. (countable) A motion picture or play featuring this style of humor.

   The farce that we saw last night had us laughing and shaking our heads at the same time.

   • 1893, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate, Prologue:

     Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language […]; his clerks […] understood him very well. If he had written a love letter, or a farce, or a ballade, or a story, no one, either clerks, or friends, or compositors, would have understood anything but a word here and a word there.

3. (uncountable) A situation abounding with ludicrous incidents.

   The first month of labor negotiations was a farce.

   • 2012 May 9, Jonathan Wilson, “Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao”, in the Guardian:

     The first match in the magnificent new national stadium was a Euro 2012 qualifier between Romania and France that soon descended into farce as the pitch cut up and players struggled to maintain their footing. Amorebieta at times seemed to be paying homage to that game, but nobody else seemed to have a problem; it was just that Falcao was far better than him.

4. (uncountable) A ridiculous or empty show.

   The political arena is a mere farce, with all sorts of fools trying to grab power.

Derived terms

• farcical

Translations

style of humor

• Bulgarian: фарс (bg) m (fars)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鬧劇 (zh), 闹剧 (zh) (nàojù)

• Czech: fraška (cs) f
• Dutch: klucht (nl) f
• French: farce (fr) f
• German: Farce (de) f
• Icelandic: farsi m, skopleikur m, ærlsaleikur m
• Italian: farsa (it) f

• Japanese: 笑劇 (しょうげき, shōgeki), ファルス (farusu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: farse m

  Nynorsk: farse m

• Polish: farsa (pl) f
• Romanian: farsă (ro) f
• Russian: фарс (ru) m (fars)
• Spanish: farsa (es) f
• Tagalog: tiyaw

situation full of ludicrous incidents

• Bulgarian: комедия (bg) f (komedija)
• Czech: fraška (cs) f
• German: Farce (de) f
• Icelandic: farsi, skopleikur, skrípaleikur m

• Polish: farsa (pl) f
• Romanian: farsă (ro) f
• Russian: фарс (ru) m (fars)

ridiculous or empty show

• Bulgarian: фарс (bg) m (fars)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鬧劇 (zh), 闹剧 (zh) (nàojù)

• Czech: fraška (cs) f

• German: Farce (de) f
• Icelandic: skrípaleikur m, skopleikur m, sýndarmennska f
• Polish: farsa (pl) f
• Russian: фарс (ru) m (fars), балага́н (ru) (balagán)

Etymology 2

From Middle English farcen, from Old French farsir, farcir, from Latin farciō (“to cram, stuff”).

Verb

farce (third-person singular simple present farces, present participle farcing, simple past and past participle farced)

1. To stuff with forcemeat.
2. (figuratively) To fill full; to stuff.
   • Bishop Sanderson

     The first principles of religion should not be farced with school points and private tenets.

3. (obsolete) To make fat.
   • Ben Jonson

     if thou wouldst farce thy lean ribs

4. (obsolete) To swell out; to render pompous.
   • Sandys

     farcing his letter with fustian

Further reading

• farce in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• farce in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• farce at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Facer, facer

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French

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /faʁs/

Noun

farce f (plural farces)

1. stuffing (for meat, etc)
2. farce (play)

Related terms

• farcir

Further reading

• “farce” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Italian

Noun

farce f

1. plural of farcia

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Norman

Noun

farce f (plural farces)

1. (Jersey) batter