2021-8-13 · (literature, archaic) A genre of riddles where the clues to the answer are descriptions or puns on its syllables, with a final clue to the whole. 1878, "Charade" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. V, p. 398: CHARADE, a trifling species of composition, or quasi-literary form of amusement, which may perhaps be best defined as a punning enigma ...