affront

American  

[uh-fruhnt] / əˈfrʌnt /

noun

1. a personally offensive act or word; deliberate act or display of disrespect; intentional slight; insult.

   an affront to the king.

   Synonyms:

   outrage, abuse, indignity, scorn, contumely, impertinence

2. an offense to one's dignity or self-respect.

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verb (used with object)

1. to offend by an open manifestation of disrespect or insolence.

   His speech affronted all of us.

   Synonyms:

   abuse, slight, insult

2. to make ashamed or confused; embarrass.

3. Archaic. to front; face; look on.

4. Obsolete. to meet or encounter face to face; confront.

affront British  

/ əˈfrʌnt /

noun

1. a deliberate insult

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verb

1. to insult, esp openly

2. to offend the pride or dignity of

3. obsolete to confront defiantly

Related Words

See insult.

Other Word Forms

• affrontedly
  adverb
• affrontedness
  noun
• affronter
  noun
• affrontingly
  adverb
• reaffront
  noun
• unaffronted
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of affront

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English afrounten, from Middle French af(f)ronter “to strike in the face,” from unattested Vulgar Latin affrontāre, derivative of Latin phrase ad frontem “at or toward the forehead” (as the seat of one's feelings or dignity). See ad-, front

Explanation

An affront is an action that causes offense. If someone blows smoke in your face after you've asked him to put out his cigarette, you would consider it an affront. Affronter was an old French word meaning "to confront" or "slap in the face." It's from the Latin, ad frontem, meaning "to the face." Sure, a slap in the face would still be considered an affront, but other non-physical actions would also count. Some would even call a misplaced apostrophe an affront to the English language. Don't confuse affront with effrontery, which means "presumptuousness."

Example Sentences

They call themselves the Concert; once they go public, others call them the Affront.

From Slate • Jan. 28, 2016

Direct Affront At a bitter, five-hour meeting of the 150-man central committee of the Arab Socialist Union last month, Sabry launched a showdown attack on the federation.

From Time Magazine Archive

Many looked on this Funeral as an Affront to the Parliament and Army; others called them Levellers, but they took no notice of any of them.”

From The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth As Revealed in the Writings of Gerrard Winstanley, the Digger, Mystic and Rationalist, Communist and Social Reformer by Berens, Lewis Henry

But in the Case of an Affront the Injury is reckon'd to be done to him only who receiv'd it.

From An Enquiry into an Origin of Honour; and the Usefulness of Christianity in War by Mandeville, Bernard

Armand took his Answer for a downright Affront, and retired bluntly from him, not without abusing him.

From The Memoirs of Charles-Lewis, Baron de Pollnitz, Volume II Being the Observations He Made in His Late Travels From Prussia thro' Germany, Italy, France, Flanders, Holland, England, &C. in Letters to His Friend. Discovering Not Only the Present State of the Chief Cities and Towns; but the Characters of the Principal Persons at the Several Courts. by P?llnitz, Karl Ludwig von

Related Words

• indignity
• provocation
• slight