masquerade

IPA: mæskɝˈeɪd

An assembly or party of people wearing (usually elaborate or fanciful) masks and costumes, and amusing themselves with dancing, conversation, or other diversions.
The act of wearing a mask or dressing up in a costume for, or as if for, a masquerade ball.
(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.
(figuratively) An assembly of varied, often fanciful, things.
(fandom slang) A cosplay event at which costumed attendees perform skits.
(obsolete) A dramatic performance by actors in masks; a mask or masque.
(obsolete, rare) A Spanish entertainment or military exercise in which squadrons of horses charge at each other, the riders fighting with bucklers and canes.

(intransitive) To take part in a masquerade; to assemble in masks and costumes; (loosely) to wear a disguise.
(intransitive, figuratively) To pass off as a different person or a person with qualities that one does not possess; also, to make a pretentious show of being what one is not.
(transitive, rare) To conceal (someone) with, or as if with, a mask; to disguise.

Examples of "masquerade" in Sentences

The evidence of his shameful masquerade is clear and straightforward.
Whilst she takes him for a beau in masquerade and is wonderfully pleased.
For me, the word masquerade takes me back to the famous masked ball scene in The Phantom of the Opera.
The masquerade is where fans play instruments and perform skits, dance numbers, and stand-up comedy in costume.
We gathered a hatful of mushrooms, those toothsome "plants in masquerade," which grow in great perfection in this valley.
As you, my dear, always turn pale when the word masquerade is mentioned; so, I warrant, will ABBEVILLE be a word of terror to these wretches, as long as they live.
His continuing masquerade is certainly evident in his most recent profanity-filled email to one of my SEAL Teammates … and includes the following colorful statement
The lightness of heart which had dressed them in masquerade habits, had decorated their tents, and assembled them in fantastic groups, appeared a sin against, and a provocative to, the awful destiny that had laid its palsying hand upon hope and life.
After a recital of his misfortune had entertained the company, and after the muses had performed their parts to the satisfaction of the audience and their own, the conversation ceased to be supported in masquerade character; muses and harlequins, gipsies and Cleopatras, began to talk of their private affairs, and of the news and the scandal of the day.