front
/fɹʌnt/ noun, adjective, verb, interjection
Forms fronts further front farther front furthest front farthest front fronting fronted
- noun The foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves.
- noun The side of a building with the main entrance. “I'll go out the front, and you go out the back.”
- noun A field of activity.
- noun A person or institution acting as the public face of some other, covert group. “Officially it's a dry-cleaning shop, but everyone knows it's a front for the mafia.”
- noun (meteorology) The interface or transition zone between two airmasses of different density, often resulting in precipitation. Since the temperature distribution is the most important regulator of atmospheric density, a front almost invariably separates airmasses of different temperature. “We need to take the clothes off the line. The news reported a front is coming in from the east, and we can expect heavy rain and maybe hail.”
- noun (military) An area where armies are engaged in conflict, especially the line of contact.
- noun (military) The lateral space occupied by an element measured from the extremity of one flank to the extremity of the other flank.
- noun (military) The direction of the enemy.
- adjective Located at or near the front. “The front runner was thirty meters ahead of her nearest competitor.”
- adjective (comparable, phonetics) Pronounced with the highest part of the body of the tongue toward the front of the mouth, near the hard palate (most often describing a vowel). “The English word dress has a front vowel in most dialects.”
- adjective Closest or nearest, of a set of futures contracts which expire at particular times, or of the times they expire; (typically, the front month or front year is the next calendar month or year after the current one).
- verb (intransitive, dated) To face (on, to); to be pointed in a given direction.
- verb (transitive) To face, be opposite to.
- verb (transitive) To face up to, to meet head-on, to confront.
- verb (transitive) To adorn with, at the front; to put on the front.
- verb (phonetics, transitive, intransitive) To pronounce with the tongue in a front position.
- verb (linguistics, transitive) To move (a word or clause) to the start of a sentence (or series of adjectives, etc).
- verb (intransitive, slang) To act as a front (for); to cover (for).
- verb (transitive) To lead or be the spokesperson of (a campaign, organisation etc.).
- interjection Used to summon a worker on duty, such as a bellhop.
Synonyms
frontperson frontman front man fore forward first lead prompt put on airs feign front end forepart battlefront front line figurehead nominal head straw man strawman presence movement social movement look face breast
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English front, frunt, frount, from Old French front, frunt, from Latin frōns, frontem (“forehead”). Doublet of frons.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The forehead or brow, the part of the face above the eyes; sometimes, also, the whole face.
- noun The forehead, countenance, or personal presence, as expressive of character or temper, and especially, of boldness of disposition, sometimes of impudence; seeming; as, a bold front; a hardened front.
- adjective Of or relating to the front or forward part; having a position in front; foremost; as, a front view.
- verb To oppose face to face; to oppose directly; to meet in a hostile manner.
Etymology [F. frant forehead, L. frons, frontis; perh. akin to E. brow.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “front”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details