Masquerade Meaning
/ˌmæskəˈɹeɪd/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn assembly or party of people wearing (usually elaborate or fanciful) masks and costumes, and amusing themselves with dancing, conversation, or other diversions.
nounThe act of wearing a mask or dressing up in a costume for, or as if for, a masquerade ball.
Sentence Examples
What is the reason for this masquerade?
Tom held a masquerade ball in the grand ballroom.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Everyone wore elegant costumes and masks at the Venetian ____ held in the grand ballroom.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The spy had to ____ as a wealthy merchant to gain access to the restricted gala event.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1714, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC, canto I, page 125:
"Verres in the youth of Cicero, Catiline and Clodius in his middle age, Mark Antony in his old age, have all been left to operate on the modern reader's feelings precisely through that masquerade of misrepresentation which invariably accompanied the political eloquence of Rome."
— 1842 July, [Thomas de Quincey], “Cicero”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume LII, number CCCXXI, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood & Sons, […], →OCLC, page 2, column 1:
"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."
— 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: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 196:
"Ethan Hunt, the human missile of American intelligence that Tom Cruise has been popping back in to play for more than 20 years now, is masquerading as a mysterious terrorist, the perfectly named John Lark, to buy back some plutonium he’s lost to a cabal of doomsday extremists."
— 2018 July 25, A. A. Dowd, “Fallout may be the Most Breathlessly Intense Mission: Impossible Adventure Yet”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 31 Jul 2018:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
Everyone wore elegant costumes and masks at the Venetian ____ held in the grand ballroom.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The spy had to ____ as a wealthy merchant to gain access to the restricted gala event.