masquerade
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˌmæskəˈɹeɪd/, /ˈmæskəˌɹeɪd/, /ˌmɑːs-/, /ˈmɑːs-/
  • (GA) IPA: /ˌmæskəˈɹeɪd/, /ˈmæskəˌɹeɪd/
Noun

masquerade (plural masquerades) (also attributively)

  1. An assembly or party of people wear#Verb|wearing (usually elaborate#Adjective|elaborate or fanciful) mask#Noun|masks and costume#Noun|costumes, and amusing themselves with dancing#Noun|dancing, conversation, or other diversions.
    Synonyms: masque
    I was invited to the masquerade party at their home.
    • 1717, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: Printed by W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], OCLC 43265629 ↗, canto I, page 125 ↗:
      What guards the purity of melting Maids, / In courtly Balls and midnight Maſquerades, / Safe from the treach'rous friend, and daring ſpark, / The glance by day, the whiſper in the dark; / [...] / 'Tis but their Sylph, the wiſe Celeſtials know, / Tho' Honour is the word with Men below.
  2. The act#Noun|act of wearing a mask or dressing up in a costume for, or as if for, a masquerade ball#Noun|ball.
  3. (figuratively) An act of live#Verb|living under false pretenses; a concealment of something by a false or unreal show#Noun|show; a disguise#Noun|disguise, a pretence; also, a pretentious display#Noun|display.
  4. (figuratively) An assembly of varied#Adjective|varied, often fanciful, things.
  5. (fandom) A cosplay event at which costumed#Adjective|costumed attendees perform skits.
  6. (obsolete) A dramatic performance by actors in masks; a mask or masque#Noun|masque.
  7. (obsolete, rare) A Spanish entertainment or military exercise#Noun|exercise in which squadrons of horse#Noun|horses charge#Verb|charge at each other, the riders fight#Verb|fighting with bucklers and cane#Noun|canes.
Related terms Translations Translations Verb

masquerade (masquerades, present participle masquerading; past and past participle masqueraded)

  1. (intransitive) To take part in a masquerade#Noun|masquerade; to assemble in mask#Noun|masks and costume#Noun|costumes; (loosely) to wear#Verb|wear a disguise#Noun|disguise.
    I’m going to masquerade as the wikipede. What are you going to dress up as?
    • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Anianus, &c.] Fab[le] CCXXIV. An Ass in a Lyon’s Skin.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: Printed for R[ichard] Sare, […], OCLC 228727523 ↗, page 196 ↗:
      There was a Freak took an Aſs in the Head, to Scoure abroad on the Ramble; and away he goes into the Woods, Maſquerading up and down in a Lyon's Skin.
  2. (intransitive, figuratively) To pass off as a different person or a person with quality#Noun|qualities that one does not possess; also, to make a pretentious show#Noun|show of being what one is not.
    He masqueraded as my friend until the truth finally came out.
  3. (transitive, rare) To conceal (someone) with, or as if with, a mask; to disguise#Verb|disguise.
Translations
  • Italian: travestirsi, mascherarsi
  • Portuguese: mascarar
  • Russian: маскирова́ться
  • Spanish: masquerada
Translations


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