Facade Meaning: Here’s What It Means and How To Use It

Have you ever heard the word facade but not known what it means? If so, read on to find out what facade means in the modern world, how to use it metaphorically, and how to use it in your daily conversations to give your vocabulary a little extra finesse! 

What Does Facade Mean?

Facade, or façade, has two primary definitions in the English dictionary. 

The original facade definition is the deceptive front view of a building that typically faces a street or open, public space. Building facades are used to make the rest of a building look much more up-scale and elaborate than it really is. Especially in the past, the side of a building usually looked much less exciting and ornate than the front, simply because fewer people saw it. 

To make a building look more exciting and expensive, a facade would be constructed to give the building a better appearance from the street, even if the rest of the building wasn’t as architecturally intriguing. This was seen by some as a dangerous and unnecessary way to construct buildings, but it was still a commonplace architectural practice. 

The secondary definition of facade uses the primary definition as the basis for a metaphor. A facade is a superficial appearance that is used almost like an illusion to cover up a less than ideal reality underneath. 

Almost everything and everyone uses facades in one way or another to make themselves seem more credible and pleasant than they feel inside. For example, if you are putting on a happy face to create a false idea of your true feelings, you are putting up a facade. 

What Is the Historical Meaning of Facade?

The etymological basis for the word facade comes from the Italian facciata (which was based on the Vulgar Latin word, itself a derivation of faccia or facia) and French façade. 

When an architect was designing a building, they would put a lot of emphasis on creating a face that made the building look more elaborate and ornate, and this typically made the building appear much taller than it actually was. 

From a design standpoint, the façade of a building often functioned as a separate piece of the structure entirely. It was used as the principal front or front side of the building, and it functioned as an alternation that would add value and prestige for its occupants. 

To many people, facades and similar frontage were architectural pretensions that seemed dishonest and unrealistic. 

Often, brick facades added to building elevations, making the buildings seem taller than they really were. This specific kind of alteration on the publicly visible heights of the building could make them look like they included one or two more stories than they actually had. 

Through this practice, businesses were able to purchase buildings that looked like they were large and impressive but were still fairly inexpensive. 

What Is the Metaphorical Meaning of Facade?

As time has gone on, the word facade has acquired a new meaning that is less literal than the original definition. People in the modern world often refer to a facade as a less accurate representation of how someone feels inside in the interest of seeming more put together and polite externally. 

For example, some people who don’t have much money dress in expensive clothing to put on a facade of wealth. People who are struggling in a relationship but don’t want others to know might put on a facade of a happy marriage. People who are feeling depressed might put on a polite facade of happiness to make people think they’re doing well. 

Often, if someone is trying to avoid hostility or contention with someone they don’t like, they will put on a kind facade of agreeableness, even though they don’t actually like the person. 

While a building facade hides the fact that it might actually be smaller than it looks, a person’s facade hides various insecurities, power struggles, or other issues. This is the typical public way that people present themselves in most social situations. 

Example of the Word Facade in Normal Conversation

To understand how to properly use the word facade, here are some uses of it in normal day-to-day conversation. 

The literal definition: 

• The brick facade of this building from the ’30s makes it look massive, but in reality, it only has two stories. 
• This building’s front facade has a lot of window frames on it, but only the bottom three floors have real windows!
• I saw a building at Princeton University that had an incredible principal face — its facade was very well made. 
• I saw a random house on Main Street that looked like it was expensive, but when I saw it from the side, I realized that it was all just the facade. 

The metaphorical definition: 

• The former governor’s ideological slogans were just a facade for his incredibly corrupt way of operating. 
• These new local zoning regulations seem like a facade for those people who are trying to take away the farmland from its owners. 
• She says that she’s having a great time on this date, but if I’m being honest, I’ve got a feeling that it’s just a facade for the fact that she genuinely loathes Arby’s. 
• Their dedication to their American heritage is just a facade for how they really feel about their Indo-European roots. 

So, now you know what facade means and how to use it! 

Sources: 

1. Types of facades for buildings | Cupa Pizarras
2. Facade in Architecture: Definition & Design – Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com
3. Building facade Definition | Law Insider