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farce Definition

farce (färs)

noun

  1. Now Rare stuffing, as for a fowl
  2. an exaggerated comedy based on broadly humorous, highly unlikely situations
  3. broad humor of the kind found in such plays
  4. something absurd or ridiculous, as an obvious pretense his show of grief was a farce

Etymology: Fr, stuffing, hence farce < VL *farsa < pp. of L farcire, to stuff: early farces were used to fill interludes between acts

transitive verb farced, farc·ing

to fill out with or as with stuffing or seasoning to farce a play with old jokes

farce Synonyms

farce

n.

  1. Broad comedy

    travesty, burlesque, low comedy, slapstick; see comedy, parody.

  2. Something absurd or ridiculous

    mockery, sham, travesty, pretense; see fake, fun, ridicule.

farce Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • game: The Clarets duly took part in this farce of a game in 1974 against Leicester City having lost to Newcastle in the semi-final.
  • election: The same assurances could be made by big business in this country in the run-up to a farce of an election on 7 June.

Converse of object

  • become: The campaign became a farce from that point on.
  • write: Gogol, described as " the Russian Dickens " , wrote this monumental farce about human greed and folly in 1835.
  • end: End the farce of half a dozen agencies all spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on problem families.
  • make: Actors wanted who can make a farce out of the police.
  • have: We hope soon to have another farce from the same author.
  • do: The producer was the most unlikely man to do a comedy farce.

Adjective modifier

  • knockabout: It can be played successfully for knockabout farce, sweet sentimentality or dark irony.
  • hilarious: Kafka's hilarious farces would be packing the West End.
  • tragic: This tragic farce was alleviated by the administrative creativity of Lieutenant-Colonel Davidson.
  • utter: Mr Bradley said, " It was a complete and utter farce.
  • pure: With its charming final reunions evading any profound questions about the nature of identity, this Comedy was pure farce.
  • classic: The cast, for all their virtues, unfortunately failed to extract the full humor of this classic farce.

Noun used with modifier

  • comedy: The producer was the most unlikely man to do a comedy farce.
  • bedroom: Although the degeneration of the Clinton administration into a bedroom farce will make the situation worse, it is not the fundamental cause.
  • sex: Bo Derek's appearance in the popular sex farce shot her to instant stardom and status as a sex symbol.
  • police: We meant of course that Mr Nicolme is a detective in the police farce.
  • slapstick: In a few hours they are to launch their provincial tour of " Nothing On, " a slapstick farce.
  • stage: A slow-paced fantasy comedy, reminiscent of the early Aldwych stage farces.

Browse dictionary entries near farce

  1. faraway
  2. farandole
  3. faradize
  4. faradic
  5. faraday
  6. farad
  7. far-reaching
  8. far point
  9. far-out
  10. far-off
  1. farceur
  2. farcical
  3. farcy
  4. fardel
  5. fare
  6. fare-thee-well
  7. farebox
  8. farewell
  9. farewell-to-spring
  10. farfel