Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Farce |
FarceNoun1. A comedy characterized by broad satire and improbable situations. 2. Mixture of ground raw chicken and mushrooms with pistachios and truffles and onions and parsley and lots of butter and bound with eggs. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "farce" was first used: 1530. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Fine Arts | Short for farcical comedy, which is played at a quicker tempo and on broader lines than pure comedy. . . . Modern farce or broad comedy is an elaboration of the original sense. Source: European Union. (references) |
Literature | Farce (1 syl.). Stuffing. Dramatic pieces of no solid worth, but stuffed full of ludicrous incidents and expressions. They bear the same analogy to the regular drama as force-meat does to a solid joint. (French, farce; Latin, farcio, to stuff.). Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Definition
A farce is a comedy written for the stage which tries to entertain the audience by means of unlikely and extravagant yet possible situations, mistaken identities, crude verbal humour including puns and sexual innuendo, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases even further towards the end of the play.
As opposed to romantic comedies, farces usually do not contain a traditional love interest or boy meets girl situation. Rather, they focus on the protagonist's urge to hide something from the other characters and the unforeseen chain reaction triggered by this attempt. Usually, there is only one setting throughout the play, in the majority of cases the drawing room of a family home which has numerous doors (and possibly French windows) leading to bedrooms, the kitchen, cupboards, and the garden. Alternatively, the setting can be a hotel or hospital room or an office.
Having no time to step back and consider what they have been doing or will be doing next, the protagonist has soon passed the point of no return, erroneously believing that any course of action is preferable to being found out or admitting the truth themselves. This way they get deeper and deeper into "trouble".
Many farces move at frantic pace toward the climax, in which the initial problem is resolved one way or another, often through a deus ex machina twist of the plot. Generally, there is a happy ending. To the audience's delight, however, the convention of poetic justice is not always observed: The protagonist may get away with what they have been trying to hide at all costs, even if it is a criminal act.
This skeleton in the closet may be real or just imagined (i e based on some misunderstanding or a misinterpretation of facts); a secret which concerns the immediate present or the long-forgotten past and has just re-emerged and started to threaten the main character's security or peace and quiet, at least seemingly. The subject-matters chosen by the various writers of farce reflect the social mores of the time: In the late 19th century, it can be a woman lying about her real age, or a man having an illegitimate child. In the course of the 20th century, it is mainly infidelity, with the protagonist trying to prevent their extra-marital affair from becoming publicly known.
As far as ridiculous, far-fetched situations and quick and witty repartee are concerned, there are parallels between farces on the one hand and TV sitcoms (such as John Cleese's Fawlty Towers) and, in film, screwball comedies on the other. See also bedroom farce.
Representative examples: A chronology
Great Britain
- Arthur Wing Pinero: The Magistrate (1885)
- Brandon Thomas: Charley's Aunt (1892)
- Oscar Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
- Noel Coward: Hay Fever (1925)
- Ben Travers: Thark (1927)
- Philip King: See How They Run (1945)
- Joe Orton: Loot (1966)
- Michael Pertwee: Don't Just Lie There, Say Something (1971)
- Anthony Marriott & Alistair Foot: No Sex, Please, We're British (1971)
- Alan Ayckbourn: Bedroom Farce (1975)
- John Chapman & Anthony Marriott: Shut Your Eyes and Think of England (1977)
- Derek Benfield: Touch and Go (1982)
- Michael Frayn: Noises Off (1982)
- Nigel Williams: W.C.P.C (1982)
- Tom Kempinski: Sex Please, We're Italian (1991)
- Ray Cooney: Funny Money (1994)
France
- Georges Feydeau: Le Dindon (1896) (aka Sauce for the Goose)
- Marc Camoletti: Boeing Boeing (1960) and Pyjama pour Six (1985) (aka Don't Dress for Dinner) [1]
Germany
- Carl Laufs & Wilhelm Jacoby: Pension Schöller (1901)
- Franz Arnold & Ernst Bach: Weekend im Paradies (1928) [1]
Russia
- Nikolai Gogol The Inspector General (often referred to as The Government Inspector).
United States
- Avery Hopwood [1] & Wilson Collison: Getting Gertie's Garter (1927) [1]
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Farce."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
FARCE | English | Fish Acid Ribo Cycle Endemic | Biology & Biotechnology |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: FarceSynonyms: farce comedy (n), forcemeat (n), travesty (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Absurdity | Farce, galimathias, amphigouri, rhapsody; farrago; (disorder); betise; extravagance, romance; sciamachy. |
Inutility | Noun: inutility; uselessness; Adjective: inefficacy, futility; inaptitude; unsubservience; inadequacy; (insufficiency); inefficiency.; (incompetence); unskillfulness; disservice; unfruitfulness;(unproductiveness).; labor in vain, labor lost, labor of Sisyphus; lost trouble, lost labor; work of Penelope; sleeveless errand, wild goose chase, mere farce. |
Ridicule | Parody, burlesque, travesty, travestie; farce; (drama); caricature. |
Ridiculousness | Farce, comedy; burlesque; (ridicule); buffoonery; (fun); frippery; doggerel verses; absurdity; bombast; (unmeaning); anticlimax, bathos; eccentricity, monstrosity; (unconformity); laughingstock. |
The Drama | Play, drama, stage play, piece, five-act play, tragedy, comedy, opera, vaudeville, comedietta, lever de rideau, interlude, afterpiece, exode, farce, divertissement, extravaganza, burletta, harlequinade, pantomime, burlesque, opera bouffe, ballet, spectacle, masque, drame comedie drame; melodrama, melodrame; comidie larmoyante, sensation drama; tragicomedy, farcical-comedy; monodrame monologue;duologue trilogy; charade, proverbs; mystery, miracle play; musical, musical comedy. |
Unimportance | Joke, jest, snap of the fingers; fudge; (unmeaning); fiddlestick, fiddlestick end; pack of nonsense, mere farce. |
Untruth | Myth, moonshine, bosh, all my eye and Betty Martin, mare's nest, farce. |
Wit | Farce, buffoonery, fooling, tomfoolery; shenanigan, harlequinade; broad farce, broad humor; fun, espieglerie; vis comica. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Farce |
| English words defined with "farce": Burletta ♦ Farced, farcical, Farcing ♦ ludicrous ♦ ridiculous ♦ Salpicon ♦ To return to one's muttons. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "farce": Aldibo-ronte-phosco-phornio ♦ Box and Cox, Brentford ♦ Caleb Quotem, Chronon-hoton-thologos ♦ Devil to Pay and no Pitch Hot, Doctor Squintum, Dying Sayings ♦ farcical comedy ♦ Jerry Sneak ♦ Legion of Honour ♦ Patelin, Podgers ♦ QUIDNUNC. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "farce": forcemeat. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Farce" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. French (drollery, farce, filling, jape, jest, joke, knock about, lark, practical joke, prank, rag, romp, trick), German (charade, farce). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | This award is the biggest farce I've ever seen (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) National security becomes a farce if we throw away the rule of law. (Ransom; writing credit: Paul Wheeler) Farce! Where are the bombers (The Bridge at Remagen; writing credit: Roger O. Hirson; Richard Yates) | |
Movie/TV Titles | La Sainte farce (1972) Tour De Farce (1967) Faire farce (1952) Une bonne farce avec ma tête (1904) Farce de marmiton (1900) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | So long as the dry farce lasts, a girl who sips ice-water is looked upon as "freezing the party". Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Two contact sheets showing young adults acting in a medical farce and in a song and dance production, and African American and other children playing around and climbing on street sign at the corner of Cowell and Pride streets, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Who is who the real thing in farce comedy. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Why Smith left home Broadhurst's latest farce : by George H. Broadhurst, author of What happened to Jones. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | The extraordinary farce, Brown's in town. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The big farce comedy, Hello Bill a whole lot of fun - in 3 hours. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Charles Frohman presents the latest Parisian farce success, The husbands of Leontine. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Mark E. Swan's latest farcical success, the effervescent ecstasy, Whose baby are you? a splendid cast present this fantastic farce. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Clifford and Huth in John J. McNally's funniest farce comedy, Courted into court. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The roaring success, George H. Broadhurst's latest farce, What happened to Jones. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Francois Rabelais | The farce is finished. I go to seek a vast perhaps. |
| I am going to seek a grand perhaps; draw the curtain, the farce is played. | |
John Mortimer | Farce is tragedy played at a thousand revolutions per minute. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | His gamut slides merrily from high comedy to farce. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Indigenous People | Guatemala | Some observers criticized the event as a farce, while others described it as an important first step toward reconciliation. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Farce" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 92.86% of the time. "Farce" is used about 280 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 92.86% | 260 | 18,316 |
| Noun (proper) | 3.57% | 10 | 111,207 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 2.14% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 1.43% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Total | 100.00% | 280 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "farce": bedroom farce ♦ farce comedy ♦ mere farce ♦ short farce. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "farce": Ffrench-farce, G-farce. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
farce | 58 |
air canadian farce royal | 9 |
air farce | 8 |
farce majeur | 7 |
bedroom farce | 4 |
farce roberts rule | 3 |
farce vidéo | 3 |
farce july | 2 |
enfants farce | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "farce"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | farsë, shfaqje komike. (various references) | |
Arabic | مهزلة (comedy), ملح أثرا أدبيا, مسرحية هزلية (comedy, jape, skit), تمثيلية (play). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | фарс (burlesque, extravaganza, interlude, mockery, quiz), комедия (act, comedy, interlude, riot, sock), плънка (filling, stuffing). (various references) | |
Chinese | 趣劇 . (various references) | |
Czech | fraška (slap comedy, slapstick). (various references) | |
Finnish | farssi, ilveily, hupailu (comedy). (various references) | |
French | farce (farcical comedy). (various references) | |
German | posse (antic, buffoonery, burlesque). (various references) | |
Greek | κωμωδία (comedy), φάρσα. (various references) | |
Hebrew | מ"תל" (jest, joke, skit), ב"חית. (various references) | |
Hungarian | komédia (comedy, it is mere acting, masquerade). (various references) | |
Indonesian | banyolan (humorous scene, joke). (various references) | |
Italian | farsa (story), tiro (cast, draft, draught, draw, drawing, fire, haul, horse, jape, joke, prank, puff, shooting, shot, team, throw, trick), buffonata (buffoonery, foolery, tomfoolery). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 茶番狂言 (burlesque, low comedy), 茶番劇 (burlesque, low comedy), 茶番 , 笑劇 , フーゼル油 (far, Far East, farm, farm stay, fast, fast back, fast break, fast food, fiber, fiberboard, fiberglass, fiberscope, fibre, fight, fight money, fighter, fighting spirit, file, filename, filesystem, filing system, final, final set, finance, fire, fire alarm, fire insurance, fire storm, fireman, fireproof, firewall, firm, firm banking, firmware, first, first impression, first lady, first run, first-class, first-name, five-star, food, food processor, Fourier, fur, fur coat, furniture, fusel oil, hood, hoop, pharmacy, purse, whodunit), ファラデー定数 (farad, Faraday constant, phalanx, phallicism, phallus), 仁輪 狂言 (extravaganza), 俄狂言 (impromptu skit). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ファース , ファルス (phallus), しょう'き (ballistic, crash, impact, shock), にわかきょう'" (extravaganza, impromptu skit), ちゃば"きょう'" (burlesque, low comedy), ちゃば"'き (burlesque, low comedy), ちゃば". (various references) | |
Manx | cloie aitt (comedy). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | arcefay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | farsa (bunko, burlesque, lark), recheio (dressing, stuffing), rechear (fit out, garnish, stuff, trim), entremear (inset, interlard, intersperse, interweave, lard, shot). (various references) | |
Romanian | festã (gammon, hoax, practical joke, prank, shuffle), farsã (hoax, humbug, interlude, joke, leg pull, low comedy, Masquerade, trick), umple (choke, clog, comprise, contain, cram, crowd, fill, fill up, flood, heap, impregnate, inflate, inform, intersperse, Lade, pack, replenish, stain, stock, stop, store, stuff, suffuse, supply), tocãturã (filling, hash, mince, stuffing), poznã (caper, damage, Folly, foolishness, freak, merry prank, mischief, practical trick, prank, roguery), pãcãlealã (dupery, hoax, joke, leg pull, sell), mascaradã (Masquerade, Mummery, pageant), glumã (chaff, frolic, fun, gag, game, jape, jest, joke, lark, play, prank, sport, trick, wheeze, wisecrack, wit, witticism), giumbuş (antics, buffoonery, tomfoolery), ghiduşie (joke), comedioarã (comedietta), comedie (comedy, device, drollery, sham, sock, trick), batjocurã (gibe, insult, jeer, jesting, mock, mockery, quiz, ridicule, scorn, taunt). (various references) | |
Russian | фарс (slapstick). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | lakrdija (burlesque, harlequinade, jape, jest), šala (dalliance, dido, fun, have on, jest, joke, lark, pleasantry, rag, rib, sally, trick). (various references) | |
Spanish | farsa (charade, humbug, Masquerade, Mummery). (various references) | |
Swedish | fars (gag, joke, slapstick), spex. (various references) | |
Thai | ละครตลก. (various references) | |
Turkish | fars (clownery), saçmalık (absurdity, applesauce, balderdash, bilge, blather, blatherskite, blether, bosh, drivel, extravagance, eyewash, fatuity, fiddle-faddle, flapdoodle, flimflam, flubdub, footle, gab, galimatias, gassing, gibberish, guff, hog-wash, hokum, hooey, inanity, ineptitude, ineptness, insanity, irrationality, lark, malarkey, moonshine, nonsense, piffle, poppycock, punk, rot, rubbish, shenanigan, silliness, spinach, stuff, talkee-talkee, the irrational, trash, triviality, twaddle, vacuity, whimsicality, whimsicalness, wind, wishy-wash), maskaralık (antics, buffoonery, charade, drollery, fandangle, foolery, mock, Mummery, playfulness, ridiculousness, tomfoolery), kaba güldürü. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | фарширувати (stuff), фарш (forcemeat, mince), фарс (droll, slapstick). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | trò khôi h i (burlesque, drollery, mockery), thể kịch vui nhộn. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Old French | 900-1400 | farcir. (various references) |
| Middle French | 1400-1600 | farce. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "farce": farced, farcer, farcers, farces, farceur, farceurs. (additional references) | |
| |
"Farce" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: arce, carce, Fabc, faceo, facex, facp, faece, Fairacre, famc, fance, farbe, farc, farcel, Farcet, farci, farcie, farcle, farcy, fardel, faree, Farge, farie, farje, fark, farle, Farme, faroe, Farre, farsan, farte, farve, Fasce, fayce, fearce, ferice, firce, forcec, forcey, frac, fraca, fracced, frace, fracs, frake, fraue, frave, frawe, frco, frec, Fsavc, sarce, Varec. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "farce" (pronounced fÄ"rs) |
| 3 | -Ä" r s | Carse, Marse, parse, sparse. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: facer. | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-f-r" | |
-1 letter: acre, cafe, care, face, fare, fear, frae, race. | |
-2 letters: ace, arc, are, arf, car, ear, era, far, fer, rec, ref. | |
-3 letters: ae, ar, ef, er, fa, re. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-f-r" | |
+1 letter: carafe, chafer, facers, farced, farcer, farces, farcie, fiacre, reface. | |
+2 letters: carafes, careful, carfare, chafers, chaffer, chamfer, chaufer, crafted, defacer, effacer, facture, fancier, farcers, farceur, farcies, fiacres, fracted, furcate, furnace, preface, refaced, refaces, refract, scarfed, surface. | |
+3 letters: affecter, alfresco, artefact, artifice, backfire, campfire, carefree, carfares, chaffers, chaffier, chamfers, chaufers, chauffer, conferva, craftier, defacers, ecofreak, effacers, factored, factures, falconer, fanciers, farceurs, farouche, federacy, feracity, fireback, fireclay, flackery, footrace, forecast, foreface, fracases, fracture, furcated, furcates, furcraea, furculae, furnaced, furnaces, graceful, pacifier, perfecta, praefect, prefaced, prefacer, prefaces, refacing, refracts, repacify, sclaffer, seacraft, surfaced, surfacer, surfaces, trifecta. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Abbreviations 16. Acronyms | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
