masquerades

Noun

masquerade (plural masquerades)

1. (also, attributive) An assembly or party of people wearing (usually elaborate or fanciful) masks and costumes, and amusing themselves with dancing, conversation, or other diversions.
   • Near-synonym: costume party

   Synonyms:

   masque, costume party

2. (also, attributive) The act of wearing a mask or dressing up in a costume for, or as if for, a masquerade ball.
3. (also, attributive, figuratively) An act of living under false pretenses; a concealment of something by a false or unreal show; a disguise, a pretence; also, a pretentious display.
   • 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
4. (also, attributive, figuratively) An assembly of varied, often fanciful, things.
5. (also, attributive, slang) A cosplay event at which costumed attendees perform skits.
6. (also, attributive, obsolete) A dramatic performance by actors in masks; a mask or masque.

See all 11 meanings of masquerade