farce means A style of humor marked by broad improbabilities with little regard to regularity or method.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, farce ranks #1,386 of 25,264 for Qualifying, #2,309 of 14,431 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #2,328 of 14,438 for Most Storied Words, #2,357 of 14,297 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
farce is pronounced /fɑːs/.
Why “farce” is a great word
A comic dramatic work using buffoonery and improbable situations for humorous effect. From Middle French farce ("stuffing, comic interlude"), from Old French farse, from Medieval Latin farsa, from the feminine of Latin farcire ("to stuff"); the theatrical sense alludes to the varied character of stuffed food, with the sense of "low comedy" attested from the 1520s. Unlike satire, which wields wit to critique and reform, or slapstick, which narrows its focus to deliberate physical clumsiness, farce pursues laughter through a frantic architecture of improbable events. It is the frantic energy of people hiding in closets, the escalating panic of a lie spiraling out of control, and the sublime absurdity of a dignified character covered in feathers—the desperate, breathless theater where logic unravels and dignity is always one misstep from disaster.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French farce (“farce (style of humor); stuffing”) (in the latter sense, via Middle English fars, farsse), from Old French farse, from Medieval Latin farsa, from the feminine perfect passive participle of Latin farciō (“to stuff”). The theatre sense alludes to the pleasant and varied character of certain stuffed food items. Doublet of farse.
noun
- A style of humor marked by broad improbabilities with little regard to regularity or method.
- A motion picture or play featuring this style of humor.“The farce that we saw last night had us laughing and shaking our heads at the same time.”
- A situation abounding with ludicrous incidents.“The first month of labor negotiations was a farce.”
- A ridiculous or empty show.“The United States, he declared, was "a farce controlled by dirty, hook-nosed, circumcised Jew bastards."”
- An elaborate lie.
- Forcemeat, stuffing.
verb
- To stuff with forcemeat or other food items.“The lunch […] consisted […] of […] lobster mayonnaise, cold game sausages, an immense veal and ham pie farced with eggs, truffles, and numberless delicious flavours; besides kickshaws, creams and sweetmeats.”
- To fill full; to stuff.“The first principles of religion should not be farced with school points and private tenets.”
- To make fat.“[I]f thou would’ſt farce thy leane Ribs with it [pork] too, they would not (like ragged Lathes) rub out ſo many Dublets as they do: […]”
- To swell out; to render pompous.“farcing his letter with fustian”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- farceur 86% match — A person who writes farces, or who performs in them. vs farce →
- tragicomedy 85% match — The genre of drama that combines elements of tragedy and comedy. vs farce →
- satire 85% match — A literary device of writing or art which principally ridicules its subject often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change or highlighting a shortcoming in the work of another. Imitation, humor, irony, and exaggeration are often used to aid this. vs farce →
- tragifarce 84% match — A dramatic work that combines elements of tragedy and farce. vs farce →
- ribaldry 84% match — Joking or humorous language or behaviour used in a vulgar or lewd fashion. vs farce →
- drollery 83% match — Comical quality. vs farce →
- burlesque 83% match — Parodical; parodic vs farce →
- metacomedy 83% match — A form of comedy that deals with comedy as its subject. vs farce →