charades


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cha·rade

 (shə-rād′)
n.
1. Games
a. charades(used with a sing. or pl. verb) A game in which words or phrases are represented in pantomime, sometimes syllable by syllable, until they are guessed by the other players.
b. An episode in this game or a word or phrase so represented.
2. A readily perceived pretense; a travesty: went through the charade of a public apology.
[French, probably from Provençal charrado, chat, from charra, to chat, chatter, perhaps from Italian ciarlare.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

charades

(ʃəˈrɑːdz)
n
(Games, other than specified) (functioning as singular) a parlour game in which one team acts out each syllable of a word, the other team having to guess the word
[C18: from French charade entertainment, from Provençal charrado chat, from charra chatter, of imitative origin]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.charades - player acts out a phrase for others to guesscharades - player acts out a phrase for others to guess
guessing game - a game in which participants compete to identify some obscurely indicated thing
charade - a word acted out in an episode of the game of charades
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
حَزاير تَمْثيليّه
šaráda
gæt og grimasser
kitalálósdi
látbragîsgáta
šaráda
sessiz filmsözcük bulma oyunu

charade

(ʃəˈraːd) , ((American) ʃəˈreid) noun
a piece of ridiculous pretence which is so obvious that it does not deceive anyone.
chaˈrades noun singular
a game in which each syllable of a word, and then the whole word, is acted and the audience has to guess the word.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
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References in classic literature ?
He was invited to contribute any really good enigmas, charades, or conundrums that he might recollect; and she had the pleasure of seeing him most intently at work with his recollections; and at the same time, as she could perceive, most earnestly careful that nothing ungallant, nothing that did not breathe a compliment to the sex should pass his lips.
I have read worse charades. Courtshipa very good hint.
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As soon as the merry meal and a brief interval of repose were over, it was unanimously voted to have some charades. A smooth, green spot between two stately pines was chosen for the stage; shawls hung up, properties collected, audience and actors separated, and a word quickly chosen.
So everyone but Mac, the gay Westerner, and Rose, took their places on the rocky seats and discussed the late beautiful and varied charade, in which Pokey frankly pronounced her own scene the "bestest of all."
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Such disappointments only gave greater zest to the nights when we acted charades, or had a costume ball in the back parlour, with Sally always dressed like a boy.
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They had never, I think, wanted to do so many things for their poor protectress; I mean--though they got their lessons better and better, which was naturally what would please her most-- in the way of diverting, entertaining, surprising her; reading her passages, telling her stories, acting her charades, pouncing out at her, in disguises, as animals and historical characters, and above all astonishing her by the "pieces" they had secretly got by heart and could interminably recite.
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I wondered what they were going to do the first evening a change of entertainment was proposed: they spoke of "playing charades," but in my ignorance I did not understand the term.
"Bridewell!" exclaimed Colonel Dent, and the charade was solved.
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The acting of charades was tried on several evenings by the young gentlemen and ladies, in the cabins, and proved the most distinguished success of all the amusement experiments.
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At this time the amiable amusement of acting charades had come among us from France, and was considerably in vogue in this country, enabling the many ladies amongst us who had beauty to display their charms, and the fewer number who had cleverness to exhibit their wit.
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Badger, speaking of her former husbands as if they were parts of a charade, "I still enjoyed opportunities of observing youth.
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And yet people do not get hanged or run through the body for the sake of a charade.
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