[syn: facade, window dressing]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Facade \Fa`[,c]ade"\ (f[.a]`s[.a]d" or f[.a]`s[=a]d"), n. [F.,
fr. It. facciata, fr. faccia face, L. facies. See Face.]
(Arch.)
The front of a building; esp., the principal front, having
some architectural pretensions. Thus a church is said to have
its fa[,c]ade unfinished, though the interior may be in use.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
facade
n 1: the face or front of a building [syn: facade, frontage,
frontal]
2: a showy misrepresentation intended to conceal something
unpleasant [syn: facade, window dressing]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
169 Moby Thesaurus words for "facade":
acting, affectation, affectedness, airs, airs and graces, alibi,
anteriority, apology, apparent character, appearance, appearances,
artificiality, attitudinizing, blind, bluff, bluffing, bold front,
border, brave face, brave front, cheating, circumference, cloak,
color, coloring, cortex, cover, cover story, cover-up, covering,
crust, deception, delusion, device, disguise, display,
dissemblance, dissembling, dissimulation, envelope, epidermis,
excuse, exterior, exteriors, external, external appearance,
externals, face, facet, facia, fakery, faking, false air,
false front, false show, falsity, feigned belief, feigning, feint,
fore, forefront, foreground, forehand, foreland, forepart,
forequarter, foreside, foreword, four-flushing, fraud, fringe,
front, front elevation, front man, front matter, front page,
front view, frontage, frontal, frontier, frontispiece, gaudiness,
gilt, gloss, guise, handle, head, heading, humbug, humbuggery,
hypocrisy, image, imposture, insincerity, integument, lame excuse,
lap, lineaments, locus standi, mannerism, mask, masquerade,
mere externals, mere show, meretriciousness, obverse,
ostensible motive, ostent, ostentation, outer face, outer layer,
outer side, outer skin, outline, outside, outward appearance,
outward show, periphery, playacting, poor excuse, pose, posing,
posture, preface, prefix, pretense, pretension, pretext, priority,
proscenium, protestation, prunes and prisms, public image,
public motive, put-off, put-on, putting on airs, refuge,
representation, rind, screen, seeming, semblance, sham, shell,
show, simulacrum, simulation, skin, smoke screen, speciousness,
stalking-horse, stratagem, stylishness, subterfuge, superficiality,
superficies, superstratum, surface, surface appearance,
surface show, top, trick, unnaturalness, vain show, varnish, veil,
veneer, window dressing