Other forms: facades
A facade is the front face of a building. The west facade, a glass facade, restore the facade.
It is the architectural term for the elevation people see from the street, and facade retention is the practice of keeping the front while rebuilding everything behind it — common in conservation areas and much argued about. Figuratively, a facade is the false front somebody presents: keep up a facade, a facade of calm. Note the spelling with or without a cedilla, and the pronunciation fuh-SAHD.
1nounfacadeThe front face of a building.
“The hotel's grand stone facade faces the main square.”
2nounfalseA false front somebody presents.
“Behind her cheerful facade, she was deeply unhappy.”
facade is a front face.
Italian facciata comes from faccia, a face, from Latin facies. The building's face and the person's are the same word, which is why the figurative sense needed no invention at all.
Latin
faciēs — face
Italian
facciata
French
façade
English, today
facade
Built from
French façade, from Italian facciata, a derivation of faccia (“front”), from Latin faciēs (“face”); compare face.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Big Ideas, Buildings & Architecture