Question:medium

Directions: Choose the correct meaning for each of the foreign language words and phrases given below.
Charade

Updated On: Jul 15, 2026
  • series
  • charter
  • pretense
  • spate
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The Correct Option is C

Approach Solution - 1

A quick way to pin down "charade" is to think of the common English phrases it appears in today, rather than its older history as a word game.

People often say things like "stop this charade" or "keep up the charade," and in both, the word clearly points to a false show being put on, an act everyone can see through but that continues anyway. That everyday sense lines up directly with "pretense," an act of pretending that is not genuine.

Checking this against the other options confirms the fit. A "series" would need the phrase to be about repetition or order, which "stop this charade" is not about. A "charter" is a formal legal document, which has no place in a sentence about someone "keeping up" an act. A "spate" describes a burst of something happening frequently, again not the sense of a false show being maintained.

Matching "charade" to the phrases it naturally appears in points to one clear meaning among the four options.

So, the correct answer is pretense.

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Approach Solution -2

"Charade" is a French word that has kept the same spelling in English, and checking how it's used in modern French confirms its meaning here.

  1. Option A, "series": The French phrase "faire la charade" describes putting on a show or an act, not arranging things one after another, so a sense of series doesn't fit.
  2. Option B, "charter": French "charade" has no connection to "charte," the French word for a formal document or charter. These are unrelated words in French itself, just as they are in English.
  3. Option C, "pretense": "Faire la charade," to make a charade, is used in French much like in English, for putting on an obvious act or show, a false impression kept up for others to see through. This matches "pretense" directly.
  4. Option D, "spate": Nothing in the French usage of "charade" points to a rush or outpouring of events, so this option doesn't match either.

Since the French phrase this word comes from is used for putting on an obvious act, the same sense carried into English, "pretense" is the meaning that fits, not series, charter, or spate.

So, the correct answer is pretense.

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