masquerade

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
masquerade /ˌmɑːskəˈreɪd, ˌmas-/

▶noun

• 1 a false show or pretence.

• 2 the wearing of disguise.

  ■ chiefly N. Amer. a masked ball.

▶verb pretend to be someone that one is not.

■ be disguised or passed off as something else: the idle gossip that masquerades as news.

– derivatives
masquerader noun.

– origin C16: from Fr. mascarade, from Ital. mascherata, from maschera ‘mask’.