Many expected the council to be a mere facade.

On both sides of the wide street you could see, through the fog, that the houses were mere facades, the buildings but gaunt skeletons.

The problem is that the Administration has been unwilling to criticize human rights abuses under its democratic allies, even when those democracies are mere facades for military domination.

Ms. Tenney's dances were often mere facades: surfaces with nothing of substance behind them.

She understands that the ingratiating persona presented to the world is not a mere facade, but an important part of the story.

Thus, for many African American artists, popularity was a mere facade of a grim reality of being seen as a "racial alien."

Stile marveled at the completely womanish texture of that breast, when in fact it was a mere facade.

Criticism of the conference was branded a mere facade for woman-hating, homophobia, fundamentalism or a desire to seize power from denominational leaders.

Many of the buildings in Cattletown are mere facades, but Mr. Stevens has also reproduced some Wild West-style buildings inside and out.

Sir Andrew Morrit VC held that there was enough evidence to lift the veil on the basis that it was a "mere facade".