front

English Online Dictionary. What means front‎? What does front mean?

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɹʌnt/
• 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.
4. A field of activity.
5. A person or institution acting as the public face of some other, covert group.

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.

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. (dated, euphemistic, chiefly in the plural) A woman's breast.
14. (informal) An act, show, façade, persona: an intentional and false impression of oneself.
15. (historical) That which covers the foremost part of the head: a front piece of false hair worn by women.
16. The most conspicuous part.
17. The beginning.
18. (UK) A seafront or coastal promenade.
19. (obsolete) The forehead or brow, the part of the face above the eyes; sometimes, also, the whole face.
20. (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.
21. (slang, in the plural) A grill (jewellery worn on front teeth).

Synonyms

• fore

Antonyms

• back
• rear
• derrière

Hyponyms

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

Derived terms

Related terms

• affront
• effrontery

Descendants

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

Translations

Adjective

front (comparative further front, superlative furthest front)

1. Located at or near the front.

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).

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

Synonyms

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

Antonyms

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

Derived terms

Translations

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.
   • 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.
3. (transitive) To face up to, to meet head-on, to confront.
4. (transitive) To adorn with, at the front; to put on the front.
5. (phonetics, transitive, intransitive) To pronounce with the tongue in a front position.
7. (linguistics, transitive) To move (a word or clause) to the start of a sentence (or series of adjectives, etc).
8. (intransitive, slang) To act as a front (for); to cover (for).
9. (transitive) To lead or be the spokesperson of (a campaign, organisation etc.).
11. (ambitransitive, multiplicity) Of an alter in a person with multiplicity (especially in dissociative identity disorder): to be the currently actively presenting member of (a system), in control of the person's body.
12. (transitive, colloquial) To provide money or financial assistance in advance to.
13. (intransitive, slang) To assume false or disingenuous appearances.

    Synonyms: put on airs, feign

    • 2008, Briscoe/Akinyemi, ‘Womanizer’:

      Boy don't try to front, / I-I know just-just what you are, are-are.
14. (transitive, slang) To deceive or attempt to deceive someone with false or disingenuous appearances (on).
15. (transitive) To appear before.

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

Derived terms

Translations

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]

Noun

front m (plural fronts)

1. front
2. forehead

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

• “front”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April
• “front”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “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

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

Synonyms

• forside

Dutch

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /frɔnt/
• Hyphenation: front
• Rhymes: -ɔnt

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/
• Homophones: ferons, feront

Noun

front m (plural fronts)

1. forehead
2. (military) front, frontline

Derived terms

Related terms

• frontal

Descendants

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

Coordinate terms

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

References

Further reading

• front in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

Indonesian

Etymology

Perhaps from Dutch front

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fron(t)/
• Hyphenation: front

Noun

front

1. front:
   1. the foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves
   2. an area where armies are engaged in conflict, especially the line of contact
2. (rough translation) a unified movement or joint movement in achieving a political or ideological goal

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^[4]

Maltese

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian fronte.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /frɔnt/

Noun

front m (plural frontijiet)

1. (military) front

Related terms

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

• 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. (architecture) 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

Derived terms

Related terms

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.

References

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

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• frònta (Croatia)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /frônt/

Noun

frȍnt m (Cyrillic spelling фро̏нт)

1. (military) front

Declension

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

front c

1. The front end or side of something.

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

Derived terms

• västfront
• östfront
• kallfront
• varmfront

Anagrams

• fornt