charades

Everyday

1. A party game where one player acts out a word, film, book or song title without speaking, and the others try to guess it. tree →
2. (charade, a charade, charades) A silly pretence that everyone can see through, as in «the meeting was a charade». tree →

In the lessons

In everyday family life and drama lessons, charades is a fun game, especially at Christmas, with signs like holding up fingers for the number of words and tugging an ear for «sounds like». In stories, «a charade» tells the reader something is fake or just for show.

Examples

• We played charades after Christmas dinner. tree →
• In charades, you must not speak. tree →
• I acted out «Frozen» in charades. tree →
• Charades is my favourite party game. tree →
• His kindness was just a charade to get our sweets. tree →
• Hold up two fingers in charades to show two words. tree →

Note

The game name «charades» looks plural but takes a singular verb: «Charades is fun». Said «shuh-RAHDZ» (UK) or «shuh-RAYDZ» (US). For a pretence use the singular: «a charade».