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masquerade

mas·que·rade

UK/ˌmæskəˈɹeɪd/ US/ˈmæskəˌɹeɪd/ uncommon obsolete rare slang
verb (2) noun (3)

verb

1.
2.

pretend to be someone or something that you are not

  • “he is masquerading as the expert on the Internet”
  • “This silly novel is masquerading as a serious historical treaty”

noun

1.

a party of guests wearing costumes and masks

Synonyms
2.
3.

making a false outward show

  • “a beggar”

Origin

The noun is borrowed from Middle French mascarade, masquarade, masquerade (modern French mascarade (“masquerade, masque; farce”)), and its etymon Italian mascherata (“masquerade”), from maschera (“mask”) + -ata. Maschera is derived from Medieval Latin masca (“mask”): see further there. The English word is cognate with Late Latin masquarata, Portuguese mascarada, Spanish mascarada. The verb is derived from the noun.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.