front

See also: Front, Front., and frōnt

English

WOTD – 2 September 2009

Etymology

From Middle English front, frunt, frount, from Old French front, frunt, from Latin frōns, frontem (“forehead”). Doublet of frons.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɹʌnt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌnt

Noun

front (countable and uncountable, plural fronts)

2. The foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves.
3. The side of a building with the main entrance.
   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path […]. It twisted and turned, […] and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and all blazing with lights.

4. A field of activity.
   • 2012 January, Stephen Ledoux, “Behaviorism at 100”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 60:

     Becoming more aware of the progress that scientists have made on behavioral fronts can reduce the risk that other natural scientists will resort to mystical agential accounts when they exceed the limits of their own disciplinary training.

5. 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.

6. (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.

7. (military) An area where armies are engaged in conflict, especially the line of contact.
8. (military) The lateral space occupied by an element measured from the extremity of one flank to the extremity of the other flank.
9. (military) The direction of the enemy.
10. (military) When a combat situation does not exist or is not assumed, the direction toward which the command is faced.
11. (historical) A major military subdivision of the Soviet Army.
12. (dated) Cheek; boldness; impudence.
13. (informal) An act, show, façade, persona: an intentional and false impression of oneself.

    He says he likes hip-hop, but I think it's just a front.

    You don't need to put on a front. Just be yourself.

    • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene vi]:

      with smiling fronts encountering

    • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 13, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

      The inhabitants showed a bold front.

14. (historical) That which covers the foremost part of the head: a front piece of false hair worn by women.
    • 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “(please specify either |book=1 to 9 or the page)”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1857, →OCLC:

      like any plain Miss Smith's, who wears a front

15. The most conspicuous part.
    • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

      the very head and front of my offending

16. The beginning.
    • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 102”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

      summer's front

    • 2012, Kenneth Womack, Todd F. Davis, Reading the Beatles, page 43:

      So the faulty bridge was moved to the front of the song, creating in the process one of the most striking opening moments in Beatles music.

17. (UK) A seafront or coastal promenade.
18. (obsolete) The forehead or brow, the part of the face above the eyes; sometimes, also, the whole face.
    • 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC:

      Bless'd with his father's front, his mother's tongue.

    • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

      Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front.

    • c. 1700, Matthew Prior, Seeing the Duke of Ormond's Picture at Sir Godfrey Kneller's:

      His front yet threatens, and his frowns command.

19. (slang, hotels, dated) The bellhop whose turn it is to answer a client's call, which is often the word "front" used as an exclamation.
20. (slang, in the plural) A grill (jewellery worn on front teeth).
    • 2016, 1:41:25, in Barry Jenkins, director, Moonlight, spoken by Kevin (André Holland):

      I'm saying, man, them fronts? That car? Who is you, Chiron?

Synonyms

• fore

Antonyms

• back
• rear

Hyponyms

• (The foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves): (nautical) bow (of a ship)

Derived terms

• active front
• arctic front
• back to front/back-to-front
• battlefront
• beachfront
• bowfront
• breakfront
• cherry blossom front
• cold front
• common front
• company front
• confront
• fly front
• forefront
• frontage
• frontal
• front and center
• front and centre
• front bench/frontbench
• front bencher
• front-bencher
• front bottom
• front bum
• front burner
• front butt
• front company
• front controller pattern
• frontcourt
• front crawl
• front curtain
• front desk
• front-desk
• front door
• front double biceps
• front drive
• front end/front-end
• front end loader
• front-end loader
• front-end processor
• front-facing
• front fee
• front-foot
• front foot
• front foot shot
• front garden
• front gate
• front grant
• front group
• front hole
• frontispiece
• frontless
• frontlet
• front lever
• front-line
• frontline/front line
• front-load
• front load
• front-loaded
• front loader
• front-loading
• front man
• front-matter
• front matter
• front money
• frontmost
• front name
• frontness
• front nine
• front office
• front-of-house
• front of house
• front of mind
• front of the house
• front organization
• front page, front-page
• front page of the Internet
• front porch
• front porch campaign
• front projector
• front range
• front ring
• front room
• front row
• front-rower
• Front Royal
• front run
• front runner
• front-runner
• front running
• front-running
• front seat
• front-side bus
• front slash
• front stall/front-stall
• front teeth
• front to back
• front-toothless
• front up
• front vowel
• front wall
• frontward
• frontwards
• front wheel
• front-wheel drive
• front wing
• frontwise
• front yard
• geofront
• gust front
• home front
• in front
• in front of
• in front of one's nose
• intertropical front
• in the front row
• lakefront
• lead from the front
• Mach front
• Marfa front
• must get in front
• new-front
• occluded front
• oceanfront
• on the front burner
• on the front foot
• out-front
• polar front
• popular front
• punch front
• put one foot in front of the other
• red flag in front of a bull
• riverfront
• sea-front
• seafront
• shirtfront
• shirt-front
• shock front
• shop front/shopfront
• shorefront
• shut the front door
• stationary front
• storefront
• take the front seat
• up-front
• up front/upfront
• up-front money
• warm front
• waterfront
• weather front
• work front
• y-front
• Y-fronts
• zip-front

 

Related terms

• affront
• effrontery

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: fran
• → Japanese: フロント (furonto)
• → Korean: 프런트 (peureonteu)

Translations

facing side

• Arabic: أَمَام m (ʔamām)

  Egyptian Arabic: قدام m (ʔudām)

  Moroccan Arabic: ڭدّام (gəddæm)

• Bashkir: ал (al)
• Bikol Central: atubangan (bcl)
• Bulgarian: чело́ (bg) n (čeló)
• Catalan: front (ca) m, cara (ca) f
• Chamicuro: tolo
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 正面 (zh) (zhèngmiàn)

• Crimean Tatar: aldı
• Czech: předek (cs) m
• Danish: forside (da) c, front c
• Dutch: voorkant (nl) m, voorzijde (nl) f or m
• Esperanto: antaŭo
• Finnish: etupuoli (fi), edusta (fi), etuosa (fi)
• French: avant (fr) m, devant (fr) m
• Galician: dianteira f, frente (gl) f
• German: Frontseite f, Vorderseite (de) f
• Greek: πρόσοψη (el) f (prósopsi)
• Hungarian: eleje (hu)
• Icelandic: framhlið f
• Indonesian: hadapan (id)
• Ingrian: esipooli, eelus
• Italian: davanti (it) m, difronte, avanti (it), frontale (it) m, parte anteriore f, facciata (it) f
• Japanese: 前 (ja) (まえ, mae), 前側 (まえがわ, maegawa), 手前 (ja) (てまえ, temae)
• Javanese: ngarep (jv)
• Korean: 앞 (ko) (ap)
• Latvian: priekša f, priekšpuse f
• Lithuanian: priekis m, priešakys m
• Malay: depan, hadapan (ms)
• Maori: mua (mi)
• Maranao: hadap
• Nanai: дюлиэ (ʒulie)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: front (no) m, forside m or f, framside m or f, fremside m or f

  Nynorsk: front m, framside f

• Old Javanese: harĕp
• Persian: جلو (fa) (jelo)
• Polish: przód (pl) m, front (pl) m
• Portuguese: dianteira (pt) f, frente (pt) f
• Russian: пере́дняя часть f (perédnjaja častʹ), пе́ред (ru) m (péred)
• Sanskrit: अग्र (sa) ? (agra)
• Scottish Gaelic: aghaidh f, beulaibh f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: prědk m

• Spanish: frente (es) m
• Swedish: framsida (sv) c
• Tausug: harapan
• Turkish: ön (tr)
• Udmurt: азь (aź)
• Walloon: divant (wa) m
• Zulu: ubuso (zu) class 14

main entrance side

• Armenian: ճակատ (hy) (čakat)
• Belarusian: фаса́д m (fasád)
• Bikol Central: atubangan (bcl)
• Bulgarian: фаса́да (bg) f (fasáda)
• Catalan: façana principal f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 正面 (zh) (zhèngmiàn)

• Czech: předek (cs) m, fasáda (cs) f
• Dutch: voorkant (nl) m, voorzijde (nl) f or m
• Finnish: julkisivu (fi)
• French: façade (fr) f
• German: Front (de) f, Vorderseite (de) f
• Greek: πρόσοψη (el) f (prósopsi)
• Ingrian: esi
• Japanese: 正面 (ja) (しょうめん, shōmen), 表 (ja) (おもて, omote)
• Korean: 정면(正面) (ko) (jeongmyeon)
• Macedonian: фаса́да f (fasáda)
• Maori: mataihi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: front (no) m, fasade (no) m

• Portuguese: frente (pt) f
• Russian: фаса́д (ru) m (fasád)
• Scottish Gaelic: beulaibh f
• Swedish: framsida (sv) c
• Ukrainian: фаса́д m (fasád)

public face of covert organisation

• Catalan: pantalla (ca) f
• Dutch: front (nl) n, façade (nl) f
• Finnish: julkisivu (fi), bulvaani (fi)
• French: façade (fr) f
• German: Frontmann (de) m
• Greek: μέτωπο (el) n (métopo)
• Indonesian: kedok (id)
• Italian: facciata (it) f
• Japanese: フロント (ja) (furonto)
• Polish: przykrywka (pl) f
• Portuguese: fachada (pt) f
• Russian: прикры́тие (ru) n (prikrýtije)
• Swedish: bulvan (sv) c

meteorology: interface between airmasses

• Bashkir: фронт (front)
• Bulgarian: фронт (bg) m (front)
• Catalan: front (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鋒／锋 (zh) (fēng)

• Czech: fronta (cs) f
• Dutch: front (nl) n
• Finnish: säärintama (fi), rintama (fi)
• French: front (fr) m
• Galician: frente (gl) f
• German: Front (de) f, Wetterfront f
• Greek: μέτωπο (el) n (métopo)
• Italian: fronte (it) m
• Japanese: 前線 (ja) (ぜんせん, zensen)
• Maori: arotuki, aro
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: front (no) m

• Portuguese: frente (pt) f
• Russian: атмосфе́рный фронт m (atmosférnyj front)
• Scottish Gaelic: aghaidh f
• Spanish: frente (es) m
• Swedish: front (sv) c

military: area or line of conflict

• Albanian: front (sq) m
• Arabic: جَبْهَة f (jabha)
• Armenian: ճակատ (hy) (čakat), ռամաճակատ (ṙamačakat), ֆրոնտ (hy) (front)
• Azerbaijani: cəbhə
• Bashkir: фронт (front)
• Belarusian: фронт m (front)
• Bulgarian: фронт (bg) m (front)
• Catalan: front (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 前線／前线 (zh) (qiánxiàn), 戰線／战线 (zh) (zhànxiàn)

• Czech: fronta (cs) f
• Danish: front c
• Dutch: front (nl) n
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: rinne (et)
• Finnish: rintama (fi)
• French: front (fr) m
• Georgian: ფრონტი (pronṭi)
• German: Front (de) f, Frontlinie (de) f
• Greek: μέτωπο (el) n (métopo)
• Hebrew: חֲזִית (he) m (khazít)
• Hungarian: front (hu)
• Italian: fronte (it) m
• Japanese: 前線 (ja) (ぜんせん, zensen), 戦線 (ja) (せんせん, sensen)
• Kazakh: майдан (maidan), фронт (front)
• Korean: 전선(戰線) (ko) (jeonseon), 전선(前線) (ko) (jeonseon)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: cepe (ku)

• Kyrgyz: фронт (ky) (front), майдан (maydan)
• Latvian: fronte f
• Lithuanian: frontas m
• Macedonian: фронт m (front)
• Maori: pae o te riri, pae o te pakanga
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: фронт (mn) (front), фро̀нта f

• Norman: front m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: front (no) m

• Pashto: جبهه (ps)
• Persian: جبهه (fa) (jebhe), فرونت (frunt)
• Polish: front (pl) m
• Portuguese: frente (pt) f, front (pt) m
• Romanian: front (ro) n
• Russian: фронт (ru) m (front)
• Scottish Gaelic: sreath f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: фро̏нт m

  Roman: frȍnt (sh) m, frònta (sh) f

• Slovak: front m
• Slovene: sprednji del m, prednji del m
• Spanish: frente (es) m
• Swedish: front (sv) c
• Tajik: ҷабҳа (jabha), фронт (front)
• Tatar: фронт (front)
• Thai: แนวหน้า (nɛɛo-nâa)
• Turkish: cephe (tr)
• Turkmen: front
• Ukrainian: фронт m (front)
• Uyghur: فرونت (front)
• Uzbek: front (uz), jabha (uz)
• Vietnamese: mặt trận (vi)
• Yiddish: פֿראָנט m (front)

military: lateral space occupied from one flank of a military unit to the other flank

• Armenian: ճակատ (hy) (čakat)
• Bulgarian: фронт (bg) m (front)
• Finnish: rintama (fi)

military: direction of the enemy

• Armenian: ճակատ (hy) (čakat)
• Finnish: rintama (fi)
• German: Front (de) f
• Greek: μέτωπο (el) n (métopo)

military: direction toward which the command is faced

• Armenian: ճակատ (hy) (čakat)
• Finnish: rintama (fi)

major subdivision of Soviet army

• Azerbaijani: cəbhə
• Belarusian: фронт m (front)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 方面軍／方面军 (zh) (fāngmiàn jūn)

• Czech: front (cs) f
• Finnish: rintama (fi), armeijaryhmä (fi)
• Russian: фронт (ru) m (front)
• Ukrainian: фронт m (front)

intentional and false impression of oneself

• German: Fassade (de) f
• Spanish: fachada (es) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Ido: ^{(please verify)} avano (io)
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} dreach f (literary)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} frente (es) m (3,4)

Adjective

front (comparative further front, superlative furthest front)

1. Located at or near the front.

   The front runner was thirty meters ahead of her nearest competitor.

3. (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.

4. 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).

   Synonym: prompt

   Antonym: back

   • 1995, Ignacio Mas, Jesús Saá-Requejo, Using Financial Futures in Trading and Risk Management, World Bank Publications, page 11:

     Contracts are available for every month in the front year but do not extend over a year.

   • 2000, The Handbook of World Stock, Derivative & Commodity Exchanges:

     Contract months : March, June, September and December[.] Minimum price fluctuation : 0.005 Index Point (1/2 basis point) equivalent to USD 12.50 per tick for the front-year Eurodollar futures […]

   • 2003, Larry Harris, Trading and Exchanges: Market Microstructure for Practitioners, OUP USA, →ISBN, page 54:

     The contract that will expire next is called the front contract or front month contract. The other contracts are called the back contracts. In financial and industrial commodities, traders mostly trade only the front month contract.

   • 2010 December 30, Frank J. Fabozzi, Anand K. Bhattacharya, William S. Berliner, Mortgage-Backed Securities: Products, Structuring, and Analytical Techniques, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 35:

     Buying the security for the earlier (or “front”) month, and owning (and financing) it for the period ending with the latter (or “back” month) settlement date.

   • 2016 August 8, Steve Bell, Quantitative Finance For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 113:

     To a speculator, a front month future is attractive. Refer to Figure 6-1 to see that both the open interest and the trading volume of the front-month contract exceeds that of all the other contracts.

   • 2017 October 17, Emmanuel Jurczenko, Factor Investing: From Traditional to Alternative Risk Premia, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 359:

     An alternative definition would estimate the slope using the front futures contract and the contract expiring 1 year after (these contracts are relatively liquid in the commodity markets).

   • 2021 March 22, Alexander During, Fixed Income Trading and Risk Management: The Complete Guide, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 324:

     When the back contract has a higher PVBP than the front contract, fewer back contracts need to be bought or sold than front contracts are sold or bought. The PVBP-neutral roll ratio is simply the ratio of the front and back contracts […]

   • 2021 June 3, Mogens Steffensen, Risks: Feature Papers 2020, MDPI, →ISBN, page 109:

     This means that in absolute terms, the number of transactions that is triggered by external sources is highest for the front contract of corn.

   • 2021 September 28, Todd E. Petzel, Modern Portfolio Management: Moving Beyond Modern Portfolio Theory, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 471:

     Going long the front futures contract and holding it a month in the example now produces a loss of $1 per barrel as the futures market converges to spot. And as long as the market is in a carry, this loss will happen continuously over […]

Synonyms

• (located near the front): first, lead, fore

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “located near the front”): back, last, rear
• (antonym(s) of “phonetics”): back

Translations

located at or near the front

• Arabic: أَمَامِيّ (ʔamāmiyy)
• Belarusian: пярэ́дні (pjarédni)
• Bulgarian: пре́ден (bg) (préden)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 前面的 (zh) (qiánmiàn de)

• Czech: přední (cs)
• Dutch: voor-
• Esperanto: antaŭa
• Even: дьулэг (ʒuləg)
• Evenki: дюлэгу (ʒuləgu)
• Finnish: etummainen (fi)
• French: antérieur (fr)
• German: vorderer (de), Vorder-
• Greek: εμπρόσθιος (el) (emprósthios), μπροστινός (el) (brostinós)

  Ancient: πρόσθιος (prósthios)

• Hungarian: elöl lévő, elülső (hu), első (hu)
• Ingrian: etimäin
• Japanese: 前面の (ja) (ぜんめんの, zenmen no)
• Korean: 앞의 (ko) (apui)
• Latin: antīcus
• Macedonian: преден (preden)
• Maori: mua (mi)
• Nanai: дюлуй (ʒuluj)
• Polish: przedni (pl)
• Portuguese: frontal (pt)
• Russian: пере́дний (ru) (perédnij)
• Sanskrit: अग्र (sa) (agra)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пре̏дњӣ

  Roman: prȅdnjī (sh)

• Slovak: predný
• Slovene: prednji, sprednji
• Tok Pisin: fran
• Ukrainian: пере́дній (perédnij), чі́льний (čílʹnyj)
• Vilamovian: fieder

phonetics: pronounced toward the front of the mouth

• Finnish: etu- (fi), etinen (fi)
• German: vorderer (de), Vorderzungen-
• Hungarian: elülső (hu), elöl képzett, magas hangrendű
• Russian: пере́дний (ru) (perédnij)

Verb

front (third-person singular simple present fronts, present participle fronting, simple past and past participle fronted)

1. (intransitive, dated) To face (on, to); to be pointed in a given direction.
   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput):

     The great gate fronting to the north was about four feet high, and almost two feet wide, through which I could easily creep.

   • 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 35:

     The door fronted on a narrow run, like a footbridge over a gully, that filled the gap between the house wall and the edge of the bank.

   • 1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 312:

     They emerged atop the broad curving steps that fronted on the Street of the Sisters, near the foot of Visenya's Hill.

   • 2010, Ingrid D Rowland, "The Siege of Rome", New York Review of Books, Blog, 26 March:

     The palazzo has always fronted on a bus stop—but this putative man of the people has kindly put an end to that public service.

2. (transitive) To face, be opposite to.
   • 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:

     After saluting her, he led her to a couch that fronted us, where they both sat down, and the young Genoese helped her to a glass of wine, with some Naples biscuit on a salver.

   • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

     […] down they ran into the dining-room, which fronted the lane, in quest of this wonder; it was two ladies stopping in a low phaeton at the garden gate.

   • 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

     She sat on a seat under the alders in the cricket ground, and fronted the evening.

3. (transitive) To face up to, to meet head-on, to confront.
   • 1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     Know you not Gaueston hath store of golde,
     Which may in Ireland purchase him such friends,
     As he will front the mightiest of vs all,

   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     What well-appointed leader fronts us here?

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 6, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     those that have willed to attaine to some greater excellence, have not beene content, at home, and at rest to expect the rigors of fortune […]; but have rather gone to meet and front her before, and witting-earnestly cast themselves to the triall of the hardest difficulties.

   • 1872, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Part IV, chapter 39:

     But Dagley immediately fronted him, and Fag at his heels growled low […] .

   • 2001, Richard Flanagan, Gould's Book of Fish, Vintage, published 2016, page 217:

     On returning home, he fronted his servant about this grisly discovery.

4. (transitive) To adorn with, at the front; to put on the front.
   • 2001, Terry Goodkind, The Pillars of Creation, page 148:

     Three tiers of balconies fronted with roped columns supporting arched openings looked down on the marble hall.

5. (phonetics, transitive, intransitive) To pronounce with the tongue in a front position.
   • 2005, Paul Skandera, Peter Burleigh, A Manual of English Phonetics and Phonology, page 48:

     The velar plosives are often fronted through the influence of a following front vowel, and retracted through the influence of a following back vowel.

7. (linguistics, transitive) To move (a word or clause) to the start of a sentence (or series of adjectives, etc).
   • 2001, Arthur J. Holmer, Jan-Olof Svantesson, Åke Viberg, Proceedings of the 18th Scandinavian Conference of Linguistics:

     […] in the clause, only the adjective may be fronted; but if both a past participle and a verbal particle are present, either may be fronted. Topicalization, in which maximal projections are fronted to express pragmatics such as contrast, emphasis, ...

   • 2010, George Melville Bolling, Bernard Bloch, Language:

     A problem facing any syntactic analysis of hyperbaton is that nonconstituent strings are fronted […] In cases where the adjective is fronted with the determiner, the determiner is not doubled […]

8. (intransitive, slang) To act as a front (for); to cover (for).
   • 2007, Harold Robbins, A Stone for Danny Fisher, page 183:

     Everybody knew Skopas fronted for the fight mob even though he was officially the arena manager.

9. (transitive) To lead or be the spokesperson of (a campaign, organisation etc.).
   • 2009 September 1, Mark Sweney, The Guardian:

     Ray Winstone is fronting a campaign for the Football Association that aims to stop pushy parents shouting abuse at their children during the grassroots football season.

10. (transitive, intransitive) Of an alter in dissociative identity disorder: to be the currently actively presenting member of (a system), in control of the patient's body.
    • 2018, Eric Yarbrough, Transgender Mental Health, page 160:

      Fronting can be understood as a representation of who controls the system, that is, the person to whom you are speaking. Emilia was typically the person fronting her system.

11. (transitive, colloquial) To provide money or financial assistance in advance to.
    • 2004, Danielle Steele, Ransom, page 104:

      I'm prepared to say that I fronted you the money for a business deal with me, and the investment paid off brilliantly.

12. (intransitive, slang) To assume false or disingenuous appearances.

    Synonyms: put on airs, feign

    • 1993 November 19, Bobby Hill, “Mad Real”, in Washington City Paper‎^[2], archived from the original on 5 February 2013:

      So when I tell people where I'm from and check their reactions, I know in my heart I'm just frontin’. Because the way and where I lived then pales when compared to the way and where many youths are living today.

    • 1994, Rivers Cuomo (lyrics and music), “Buddy Holly”, performed by Weezer:

      What's with these homies dissin' my girl? / Why do they gotta front?

    • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 101:

      No matter how hard she fronted in the coming years, Carmiesha could never forget that she had given birth and had a child in this world. Even when she tried not to remember, she still couldn’t forget.

    • 2008, Briscoe/Akinyemi, ‘Womanizer’:

      Boy don't try to front, / I-I know just-just what you are, are-are.

    • 2008, Markus Naerheim, The City, page 531:

      You know damned straight what this is about, or you ain't as smart as you been frontin'.

13. (transitive, slang) To deceive or attempt to deceive someone with false or disingenuous appearances (on).
    • 1992, “So What'cha Want”, performed by The Beastie Boys:

      You think that you can front when revelation comes? / You can't front on that

14. (transitive) To appear before.

    to front court

15. (transitive or intransitive, slang, African-American Vernacular) To act cocky, disrespectful and aggressive; to confront (someone).

Translations

linguistics: to move (a word or clause) to the start of a sentence (or series of adjectives, etc)

to lead or be the spokesperson of a group

• Finnish: johtaa (fi), edustaa (fi)
• French: porte-parole (fr) m or f

to provide money or financial assistance in advance

• Finnish: maksaa ennakkoon (fi)

assume false or disingenuous appearances

• Finnish: kopeilla, heittäytyä koppavaksi
• German: etwas vormachen (de), fingieren (de), etwas vorspielen (de)
• Spanish: aparentar (es), fingir (es)

See also

• front vowel

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin frontem, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰron-t-, from *bʰren- (“project”). Compare Occitan front, French front, Spanish frente.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈfɾon]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [ˈfɾont]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

front m (plural fronts)

1. front
2. forehead

Derived terms

• fer front
• frontblanc
• frontblau
• frontgrís
• frontgroc
• frontnegre
• frontvermell

 

Related terms

• afrontar
• fronter

Further reading

• “front” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “front”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “front” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “front” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈfront]

Noun

front m inan

1. front (subdivision of the Soviet army)

Declension

Declension of front (hard masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	front	fronty
genitive	frontu	frontů
dative	frontu	frontům
accusative	front	fronty
vocative	fronte	fronty
locative	frontu	frontech
instrumental	frontem	fronty

Further reading

• “front”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935-1957
• “front”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French front.

Noun

front c (singular definite fronten, plural indefinite fronter)

1. front

Declension

Declension of front

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	front	fronten	fronter	fronterne
genitive	fronts	frontens	fronters	fronternes

Synonyms

• forside

Dutch

Etymology

From Old French front (noun), fronter (verb), from Latin frons (“forehead”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

front n (plural fronten, diminutive frontje n)

1. front

Derived terms

• thuisfront

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French front, from Latin frontem, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰron-t-, from *bʰren- (“project”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʁɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: ferons, feront

Noun

front m (plural fronts)

1. forehead
2. (military) front, frontline

Derived terms

• à la sueur de son front
• front intérieur
• Front National
• ligne de front
• mener de front

 

Related terms

• frontal

Descendants

• → Brazilian Portuguese: fronte
• → Bulgarian: фронт (front)
• → Czech: front, fronta
• → German: Front
  • → Hungarian: front
  • → Russian: фронт (front)
    • → Bashkir: фронт (front)
• → Irish: fronta
• → Macedonian: фронт (front)
• → Norwegian Bokmål: front
• → Polish: front
• → Serbo-Croatian:

  Latin script: frȍnt, frònta (Croatia)

  Cyrillic script: фро̏нт

• → Swedish: front

See also

• sinciput

Further reading

• “front”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin frontem, accusative singular of frōns.

Noun

front m (plural fronts)

1. (anatomy) forehead

Hungarian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Front, from French fronte, from Latin frons, frontis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈfront]
• Hyphenation: front
• Rhymes: -ont

Noun

front (plural frontok)

1. (military) front (an area where armies are engaged in conflict)
2. (military) a unit composed of several, normally three, army groups, cf. German Front, [2a]
3. (meteorology) front (the interface or transition zone between two airmasses of different density)
4. (architecture) front, face (the side of a building with the main entrance)

Declension

Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	front	frontok
accusative	frontot	frontokat
dative	frontnak	frontoknak
instrumental	fronttal	frontokkal
causal-final	frontért	frontokért
translative	fronttá	frontokká
terminative	frontig	frontokig
essive-formal	frontként	frontokként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	frontban	frontokban
superessive	fronton	frontokon
adessive	frontnál	frontoknál
illative	frontba	frontokba
sublative	frontra	frontokra
allative	fronthoz	frontokhoz
elative	frontból	frontokból
delative	frontról	frontokról
ablative	fronttól	frontoktól
non-attributive possessive - singular	fronté	frontoké
non-attributive possessive - plural	frontéi	frontokéi

Possessive forms of front
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	frontom	frontjaim
2nd person sing.	frontod	frontjaid
3rd person sing.	frontja	frontjai
1st person plural	frontunk	frontjaink
2nd person plural	frontotok	frontjaitok
3rd person plural	frontjuk	frontjaik

Coordinate terms

• (military units) őrs/tűzcsoport < raj < szakasz < század < zászlóalj < ezred < dandár < hadosztály < hadtest < hadsereg < hadseregcsoport < front

Indonesian

Noun

front (first-person possessive frontku, second-person possessive frontmu, third-person possessive frontnya)

1. front

Kashubian

Etymology

Borrowed from Polish front.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfrɔnt/
• Rhymes: -ɔnt
• Syllabification: front

Noun

front m inan (related adjective frontowi)

1. front (side of a building with the main entrance)
2. (military, law enforcement) front (foremost part of a line of soldiers or policemen)
3. (military) front (area where armies are engaged in conflict, especially the line of contact)

Further reading

• Jan Trepczyk (1994) “front”, in Słownik polsko-kaszubski (in Kashubian), volumes 1–2
• Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011) “front”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎^[3]

Maltese

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian fronte.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /frɔnt/

Noun

front m (plural frontijiet)

1. (military) front

Related terms

• ffronta
• frontali
• frontispizju
• frontun

 

Middle English

Noun

front

1. Alternative form of frount

Norman

Etymology

From Old French front, from Latin frōns, frontem.

Noun

front m (plural fronts)

1. (military) front

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from French front.

Noun

front m (definite singular fronten, indefinite plural fronter, definite plural frontene)

1. front

Synonyms

• forside, framside, fremside

Derived terms

• frontkollisjon
• frontrute
• kaldfront
• sjøfront

References

• “front” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from French front.

Noun

front m (definite singular fronten, indefinite plural frontar, definite plural frontane)

1. front

Synonyms

• framside

Derived terms

• frontkollisjon
• frontrute
• kaldfront
• sjøfront

References

• “front” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old French

Etymology

From Latin frōns, frontem.

Noun

front oblique singular, m (oblique plural fronz or frontz, nominative singular fronz or frontz, nominative plural front)

1. forehead
2. (military) front

Descendants

• French: front m (see there for further descendants)
• Norman: front m
• → Dutch: front
• → Middle English: frount, ffront, ffrount, front, fronte, frounte, frountte, frownt, frownte, frunt, frunte
  • English: front (see there for further descendants)
  • Scots: front

Polish

Etymology

Internationalism; possibly borrowed from German Front, French front, or English front, ultimately from Latin frōns. First attested in 1656–1688. Compare Silesian frōnt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /frɔnt/
• (Middle Polish) IPA^(key): /ˈfrɔnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔnt
• Syllabification: front

Noun

front m inan (related adjective frontowy)

1. (military, law enforcement) front (foremost part of a line of soldiers or policemen)
2. front (side of a building with the main entrance)
3. (military) front (area where armies are engaged in conflict, especially the line of contact)
4. (military) front (military unit composed of multiple armies that sits in the line of contact)
5. (literary) front (activity against someone else's activity)
6. (literary) front (group carrying out activity against someone else's activity)
7. (meteorology) front (interface or transition zone between two airmasses of different density, often resulting in precipitation)
8. front (formation of planes during a group flight)
9. front (area of activity)
10. (obsolete, colloquial) house facing a street
11. (Middle Polish) front (foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves)

    Synonym: przód

Declension

Declension of front

	singular	plural
nominative	front	fronty
genitive	frontu	frontów
dative	frontowi	frontom
accusative	front	fronty
instrumental	frontem	frontami
locative	froncie	frontach
vocative	froncie	fronty

Derived terms

adverbs

• frontem
• na dwa fronty
• szerokim frontem

 

nouns

• frontowiec
• frontownik

 

verbs

• zmienić front pf, zmieniać front impf

 

Related terms

adverb

• frontowo

 

Descendants

• → Kashubian: front

Trivia

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), front is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 8 times in scientific texts, 20 times in news, 29 times in essays, 8 times in fiction, and 9 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 74 times, making it the 866th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.

Further reading

• front in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• front in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “front”, in Słownik języka polskiego
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “front”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1900), “front”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 1, Warsaw, page 775
• front in Narodowy Fotokorpus Języka Polskiego
• Bańkowski, Andrzej (2000) “front 1-2”, in Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French front.

Noun

front n (plural fronturi)

1. (military) front, front line

Declension

Declension of front

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) front	frontul	(niște) fronturi	fronturile
genitive/dative	(unui) front	frontului	(unor) fronturi	fronturilor
vocative	frontule		fronturilor

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• frònta (Croatia)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /frônt/

Noun

frȍnt m (Cyrillic spelling фро̏нт)

1. (military) front

Declension

Declension of front

	singular	plural
nominative	frȍnt	fròntovi
genitive	fronta	frontova
dative	frontu	frontovima
accusative	front	frontove
vocative	fronte	frontovi
locative	frontu	frontovima
instrumental	frontom	frontovima

Swedish

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

front c

1. The front end or side of something.

   Bilen hade fått en ful buckla på fronten.

   "There was an ugly bump on the front of the car."

2. front - the area were two armies are fighting each other.

   På västfronten intet nytt (All Quiet on the Western Front, book by Erich Maria Remarque)

3. front - area were hot and cold air meet
4. front - one aspect of a larger undertaking which is temporarily seen as a separate undertaking in order to evaluate its progress in relationship to the whole.

Declension

Declension of front
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	front	fronten	fronter	fronterna
Genitive	fronts	frontens	fronters	fronternas

Derived terms

• västfront
• östfront
• kallfront
• varmfront

Anagrams

• fornt