masquerade

noun

1 a grand masquerade organized by Lord Tylney at Wanstead House:

masked ball, masque, fancy-dress party.

2 I doubt if he could have kept up the masquerade for much longer:

pretense, deception, pose, act, front, facade, disguise, dissimulation, cover-up, bluff, subterfuge, playacting, make-believe;

informal put-on.

verb

a journalist masquerading as a man in distress:

pretend to be, pose as, pass oneself off as, impersonate, disguise oneself as, simulate, profess to be;

rare personate.