front
/frʌnt
/noun
1The side or part of an object that presents itself to view or that is normally seen or used first; the most forward part of something: a page at the front of the book had been torn out he sealed the envelope and wrote on the front...
- I like those kinds of views, where the front of something looks so large while the rest of it disappears into the background.
- That excerpt is written on the front of the book, it really grabbed my attention and fired my imagination.
- Sometimes, I actually tore out the blank pages at the front of books to draw on.
Synonyms
forepart, fore, foremost part, anterior, forefront, nose, head;
bow, prow;
foreground, nearest part, closest part
informal sharp end
rare fore-end
1.1 [in singular] The position directly ahead of someone or something; the most forward position or place: she quickly turned her head to face the front...
- Mr. Malik took a step forward from his position at the front of the classroom.
- Now I'm in a balanced setup position, with the ball toward the front of my stance.
- After flying into my neck, the roach flew off toward the front of the pool hall.
1.2The forward-facing part of a person’s body, on the opposite side to their back: she rolled over on to her front...
- The spike slid along his side, creating a long bloodline on his body from the front to the side.
- Tom grabbed me around the waist and pulled the backside of my body against his front, and held me there.
- He taunted, and I merely stumbled back as I felt more blows upon my side, my front, and my back.
1.3The part of a garment covering a person’s front: porridge slopped from the tray on to his shirt front...
- Modesty panels of chiffon, where none might have existed before were seen on bodice fronts.
- Try something unexpected like a blouse with a frilled front or lace cuffs under a plain sweater or a tailored jacket.
- Back the garment fronts and back with tear-away stabilizer.
1.4 informal A woman’s bust or cleavage: get your eyes off my front, meathead
1.5Any face of a building, especially that of the main entrance: the west front of the Cathedral...
- The translucency of it is striking, something not usually perceived in marble counter tops or building fronts.
- The gable front, frame building has a single entrance and a small loft door.
- The family would use the front door below the great portico on the west front.
Synonyms
frontage, face, facing, facade;
window
1.6chiefly British short for seafront or waterfront.
2The foremost line or part of an armed force; the furthest position that an army has reached and where the enemy is or may be engaged: his regiment was immediately sent to the front...
- Kerensky cabled the front for additional armed forces but he hoped he would not have to use them.
- By the end of July, the forces of the three fronts outflanked the Orel force grouping of the enemy in the north, east and south.
- The ravaging of the Palatinate at the start of the League of Augsburg war was intended to deny the area to enemy armies, limiting the number of fronts Louis's armies had to cover.
Synonyms
front line, vanguard, van, first line, firing line, battlefield, battleground, field of battle, combat zone;
trenches
historical lists
2.1The direction towards which a line of troops faces when formed.
2.2A particular formation of troops for battle: the Spartans preserving an even and unbroken front...
- Committing reserve fronts to battle was the prerogative of the SHC Hq.
- In many instances, the assigning of troops to reserve fronts called for drastically new methods of their commitment to battle and disposition.
- Hitler was keen for victory here, since it would enable him to destroy two Russian fronts in one battle.
2.3A particular situation or sphere of operation: there was some good news on the jobs front...
- Meanwhile, Taiwan is facing a precarious situation on the diplomatic front.
- It was a winning situation on all fronts as Geraldine's fantastic physical fitness carried her through on the day, along with the loyal support and sponsorship from her friends.
- While Bank of America has developed workarounds to integrate core systems, it has made progress on unifying operations on some fronts.
2.4 [often in names] An organized political group: the National Progressive Patriotic Front...
- The political failure to create a national liberation front is the Achilles heel of the resistance.
2.5 Meteorology The forward edge of an advancing mass of air. See cold front, warm front.If the front moves across a surface with a warmer temperature than the lower parts of the air mass, then the front will become unstable....
- Convergence is where the movement of a front lifts a mass of air that is in its path.
- The areas where these two masses of air meet are known as polar fronts.
3 [in singular] An appearance or form of behaviour assumed by a person to conceal their genuine feelings: she put on a brave front...
- Sporting a brave front, he put on his battle gear: a worn-out helmet, its straps in tatters.
- Amy seems uncomfortable under his gaze, but she finally puts up a brave front.
- She tried so hard, she did everything she could to put on a brave front, but she thought Mom was going to die.
Synonyms
appearance, look, expression, face, manner, air, countenance, demeanour, bearing, posture, pose, mien, aspect, exterior, veneer, (outward) show, false display, act, pretence, affectation
3.1A person or organization serving as a cover for subversive or illegal activities: the CIA identified the company as a front for a terrorist group...
- The whole wizard thing is just a front for his illegal drug selling activities.
- The court heard how the former school governor also used a face-painting business on Bridlington pier as a front for his activities.
- She discovers that the magazine is a front for the organization, and decided to go undercover.
Synonyms
cover, cover-up, pretext, false front, blind, disguise, facade, mask, cloak, screen, smokescreen, camouflage
4 [mass noun] Boldness and confidence of manner: he’s got a bit of talent and a lot of front...
- They seem to be natural born show-offs who've got lots of face and front, but often no talent.
Synonyms
self-confidence, boldness, forwardness, audacity, audaciousness, temerity, brazenness, presumption, presumptuousness;
rashness, daring
informal cockiness, pushiness, nerve, face, neck, brass neck
archaic assumption
5 archaic A person’s face or forehead: the mark of fool set on his front
adjective [attributive]
1Of or at the front: the front cover of the magazine she was in the front garden...
- This caused the living room to collapse into the cellar and left the front garden covered in rubble.
- The solution was found when Mick noticed the cast iron water meter cover in the front garden.
- A white police tent yesterday covered the front garden of the house as forensic tests were carried out.
Synonyms
at the front, foremost
leading, lead, first, foremost;
in first place
2 Phonetics (Of a vowel sound) formed by raising the tongue, excluding the blade and tip, towards the hard palate.I've got a girl's name when written down, but it's got a front vowel when pronounced.
verb [with object]
1(Of a building or piece of land) have the front facing or directed towards: the flats which fronted Crow Road [no object]: both properties fronted on to the beach...
- Between this and the canal we discovered warehouses, mausolea and other buildings that fronted on to the road.
- The scheme would include ground floor shops, including a food store, on land fronting Bury New Road and Stanley Road, meaning Roma's and the Church pub would be demolished.
- The new building will front Bolton Road and around 70 extra parking spaces will be created near Malvern Grove.
Synonyms
overlook, look on to, look out on, look out over, look towards, face (towards), lie opposite (to);
have a view of, command a view of
1.1Be or stand in front of: they reached the hedge fronting the garden...
- Husband and wife walked till they had reached the house they were in search of, which stood in a terrace facing the sea, and was fronted by a small garden of windproof and salt-proof evergreens, stone steps leading up to the porch.
- I was delighted to see some beautiful butterflies on flowering shrubs in the gardens fronting a busy, air-polluted road in Penge.
- An Easter opening is planned for the new visitor centre, which is built in the ruined shell of a 17th century seat of the Cholmley family and fronted by cobbled garden courts.
1.2 archaic Stand face to face with; confront: Tom fronted him with unwavering eyes
2Provide (something) with a front or facing of a particular type or material: a metal box fronted by an alloy panel (as adjective, in combination -fronted) a glass-fronted bookcase...
- By contrast, a window box that caught my eye recently can only be described as a tone poem to understatement: a severe planting of box fronted by ivy grown in a swag - simple, effective and extremely low maintenance.
- Tony Stone is also exhibiting an extremely rare matching set of four George III serpentine fronted knife boxes in flame mahogany with filigree silverwork.
- Simon Howard showed a confident collection with angular and structured shapes formed in zip fronted jackets and flared trousers in stiff canvas materials.
3Lead or be the most prominent member in (an organization, group, or activity): the group is fronted by two girl singers...
- New executive chairman Simon Burke, who fronted the group of private investors that made up the Select consortium, took over the reins yesterday.
- Debbie, a biker of 15 years' experience, fronts a group of more than 50 members which look to defend biker interests and comment on any new government legislation.
- All Mesnel's franchised stores - and as well as the UK and France, they are expanding into Australia, New Zealand, Spain and the Middle East - are fronted by a prominent local rugby player.
3.1Present or host (a television or radio programme): she is set to front a new BBC show...
- Kelly Brook is a presenter who has fronted programmes on MTV.
- Presenter Brian Morton, who fronts Radio Scotland's nightly arts programme, The Brian Morton Show, is to leave the station.
- Graham's used to fronting his own television programme and has had audiences in stitches with his live stand-up, but can he cut it live on BBC ONE, or will he be just a little bit scared?
4 [no object] Act as a front or cover for illegal or secret activity: he fronted for them in illegal property deals...
- Yep, the same bloke who fronted for James Hardie and conned the NSW Government into running dead on the Hardie lurk in avoiding its asbestos claims in 2001, is a News representative.
- He fronted for them by taking their cheques, depositing them and then writing personal checks that he gave to Encounter, an anti-communist liberal literary publication.
- It was a dingy bar that fronted for a whore house.
5 [no object] (often front up) Australian /NZ Make an appearance; turn up: parents get a bit worried if you don’t front up now and then...
- One of the protestors donned a chicken suit after Lloyd declined repeated requests to front up to community meetings.
- I am prepared to front up to any of my farmers to listen to them, to talk to them, and to debate the issue because it is worth having that debate.
- Of course that committee is acting under an instruction from the Prime Minister, and she ought to front up and answer.
5.1 [with object] archaic or Australian /NZ Stand face to face with; confront: Tom fronted him with unwavering eyes
6 Phonetics Articulate (a vowel sound) with the tongue further forward: the three velar consonants are normally fronted to some degree (as noun fronting) the fronting of /au/ was completed a couple of generations ago...
- In the affected dialects, this vowel is raised and fronted in the pre-voiceless cases.
7 Linguistics Place (a sentence element) at the beginning of a sentence instead of in its usual position, typically for emphasis or as a feature of some dialects, as in horrible it was.The quoted event can be a linguistic utterance; moreover, as this example shows, the quoted element can be fronted....
- Verb second, or V2, languages are languages in which a finite verb or Aux is fronted to a second place in a root clause.
- First, the example is one in which the preferred form of the sentence ended in two prepositions, the second with an object and the first without, and he fronted both of them.
Phrases
front of house
in front
in front of
out front
Derivatives
frontless
- Maybe I should iron my backless, strapless, frontless Versace frock and prepare a speech just in case.
- The multitude were deceived with his artifices, and pleased with his frontless impudence, which they called boldness, and manly openness of character.
- The frontless nature of the war also made the helicopter necessary for medical evacuation.
frontmost
- This folding mechanism takes up very little space and allows the frontmost part of the roof to extend like a cover over the soft top, merging flush with the body of the car.
- I was sitting in the frontmost carriage, where you can hear the controller over the driver's radio.
- This happened when the driver of the frontmost car braked suddenly to avoid running over a squirrel.
frontward
- His back was rounded frontward, from the middle of the back, not the shoulders, positioning him well over the table when he ate.
- Kids also did better on narrow bridges if they switched their method of holding the handrail during a crossing, such as going from a one-handed grip facing frontward to a two-handed grip facing sideways.
- This allows Max to throw his body left, right, frontward or backward while giving you the opportunity to fire at targets during a specified period of decelerated time.
frontwards
- But when he opened his eyes, Jacobs, in a powerful jerk, had thrust herself frontwards to perform a forward tuck.
- Of course, there are other fun intermediate skills, too, like backward skating and switching from frontwards to backwards and vice versa.
- With a flat-bottomed boat you should be able to surf as well sideways (called a grind) as you do frontwards or backwards.
Origin
Middle English (denoting the forehead): from Old French front (noun), fronter (verb), from Latin frons, front- 'forehead, front'.