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”, literally “stuffing”).

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.

   • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], OCLC 16832619:

     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
• Danish: farce c
• Dutch: klucht (nl) f, farce (nl) m or f, blijspel (nl) n, komedie (nl) f
• French: farce (fr) f
• German: Farce (de) f, Posse (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)

• Latin: mīmus m
• Malayalam: പ്രഹസനം (ml) (prahasanaṃ)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: farse m

  Nynorsk: farse m

• Polish: farsa (pl) f
• Romanian: farsă (ro) f
• Russian: фарс (ru) m (fars)
• Spanish: farsa (es) f
• Swedish: fars (sv) c, buskis (sv) c
• Tagalog: tiyaw
• Yiddish: פֿאַרס‎ m (fars)

situation full of ludicrous incidents

• Bulgarian: комедия (bg) f (komedija)
• Czech: fraška (cs) f
• Danish: farce c
• Dutch: farce (nl) m or f, schertsvertoning (nl) f, schijnvertoning (nl) f
• German: Farce (de) f
• Icelandic: farsi, skopleikur, skrípaleikur m

• Latin: mīmus m
• Polish: farsa (pl) f
• Romanian: farsă (ro) f
• Russian: фарс (ru) m (fars)
• Spanish: farsa (es), sainete
• Swedish: fars (sv) c

ridiculous or empty show

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

  Mandarin: 鬧劇 (zh), 闹剧 (zh) (nàojù)

• Czech: fraška (cs) f
• Danish: farce c
• Dutch: schertsvertoning (nl) f, schijnvertoning (nl) f, farce (nl) m or f

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

Etymology 2

Verb 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. (transitive) To stuff with forcemeat or other food items.
   • 1923, Walter de la Mare, Seaton's Aunt

     The lunch […] consisted […] of […] lobster mayonnaise, cold game sausages, an immense veal and ham pie farced with eggs, truffles, and numberless delicious flavours; besides kickshaws, creams and sweetmeats.

2. (transitive, figuratively) To fill full; to stuff.
   • 1678, Robert Sanderson, Pax Ecclesiae

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

3. (transitive, obsolete) To make fat.
   • 1599 (first performance; published 1600)​, Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Euery Man out of His Humour. A Comicall Satyre. […]”, in The Workes of Ben Jonson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, OCLC 960101342, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     if thou wouldst farce thy lean ribs

4. (transitive, obsolete) To swell out; to render pompous.
   • 1615, George Sandys, “(please specify the page)”, in The Relation of a Journey Begun An. Dom. 1610. […], London: […] [Richard Field] for W. Barrett, OCLC 25923553:

     farcing his letter with fustian

Translations

To stuff with forcemeat

• Bulgarian: пълня (bg) (pǎlnja), фаршировам (farširovam)

Noun

farce

1. (cooking) Forcemeat, stuffing.

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Facer, facer

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Czech

Noun

farce

1. dative singular of farka
2. locative singular of farka

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French

Etymology

From Old French farse, from Medieval Latin farsa, feminine perfect passive participle from farcīre, from farciō (“I stuff”). The theatre sense alludes to the pleasant and varied character of certain stuffed food items.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /faʁs/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

farce f (plural farces)

1. (cooking) stuffing
2. (theater) farce

Derived terms

• dindon de la farce
• farce ou friandise
• histoire farce

 

Related terms

• farcir

Descendants

• → Catalan: farsa
• → Danish: fars
• → German: Farce
• → Italian: farsa
• → Russian: фарш (farš)
• → Spanish: farsa
• → Swedish: fars

Further reading

• “farce”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Hausa

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fáɽ.t͡ʃèː/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [ɸáɽ.t͡ʃèː]

Noun

farcḕ m (plural farā̀tā, possessed form farcèn)

1. fingernail

   Synonym: ƙumba

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfar.t͡ʃe/
• Rhymes: -artʃe
• Hyphenation: fàr‧ce

Noun

farce f

1. plural of farcia

Anagrams

• cafre

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Norman

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

farce f (plural farces)

1. (Jersey) batter