affront
/əˈfrənt/ verb, noun
Forms affronts affronting affronted
- verb (transitive) To insult intentionally, especially openly.
- verb (transitive) To be an affront to; offend.
- verb (transitive) To meet defiantly; to confront. “to affront death”
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To meet or encounter face to face.
- noun An open or intentional offense, slight, or insult. “Such behavior is an affront to society.”
- noun (obsolete) A hostile encounter or meeting.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English afrounten, from Old French afronter (“to hit in the face; to defy”), from Vulgar Latin *affrontare (“to hit in the face”), from Latin ad (“to”) + frōns (“forehead”) (English front). By surface analysis, af- + front.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To front; to face in position; to meet or encounter face to face.
- verb To face in defiance; to confront; as, to confront; as, to affront death; hence, to meet in hostile encounter. [Archaic]
- noun An encounter either friendly or hostile. [Obs.]
- noun Contemptuous or rude treatment which excites or justifies resentment; marked disrespect; a purposed indignity; insult.
Etymology [OF. afronter, F. affronter, to confront, LL. affrontare to strike against, fr. L. ad + frons forehead, front. See Front.]
Etymology [Cf. F. affront, fr. affronter.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “affront”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details