masquerade Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a party of guests wearing costumes and masks
    masque; mask; masquerade party.
  2. noun a costume worn as a disguise at a masquerade party
    fancy dress; masquerade costume.
  3. noun making a false outward show
    • a beggar's masquerade of wealth
  4. verb take part in a masquerade
  5. verb pretend to be someone or something that you are not
    • he is masquerading as an expert on the internet
    • This silly novel is masquerading as a serious historical treaty

WordNet

Mas`quer*ade" noun
Etymology
F. mascarade, fr. Sp. mascarada, or It. mascherata. See Mask.
Definitions
  1. An assembly of persons wearing masks, and amusing themselves with dancing, conversation, or other diversions.
    In courtly balls and midnight masquerades. Pope.
  2. A dramatic performance by actors in masks; a mask. See 1st Mask, 4. Obs.
  3. Acting or living under false pretenses; concealment of something by a false or unreal show; pretentious show; disguise.
    That masquerade of misrepresentation which invariably accompanied the political eloquence of Rome. De Quincey.
  4. A Spanish diversion on horseback.
Mas`quer*ade" intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Masqueraded; present participle & verbal noun Masquerading
Definitions
  1. To assemble in masks; to take part in a masquerade.
  2. To frolic or disport in disquise; to make a pretentious show of being what one is not.
    A freak took an ass in the head, and he goes into the woods, masquerading up and down in a lion's skin. L'Estrange.
Mas`quer*ade" transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To conceal with masks; to disguise. "To masquerade vice." Killingbeck.

Webster 1913