frontispiece

American  

[fruhn-tis-pees, fron-] / ˈfrʌn tɪsˌpis, ˈfrɒn- /

noun

1. an illustrated leaf preceding the title page of a book.

2. Architecture. a façade, or a part or feature of a façade, often highlighted by ornamentation.

---

frontispiece British  

/ ˈfrʌntɪsˌpiːs /

noun

1. an illustration facing the title page of a book

2. the principal façade of a building; front

3. a pediment, esp an ornamented one, over a door, window, etc

---

Etymology

Origin of frontispiece

1590–1600; alteration (conformed to piece ) of earlier frontispice < French < Medieval Latin frontispicium, equivalent to Latin fronti- front + -spicium (combining form representing specere to look at)

Example Sentences

This research will be featured as a frontispiece in the upcoming issue of Advanced Materials and has secured both domestic and international patents.

From Science Daily • Feb. 13, 2024

The book's frontispiece is a sketch of two women who remind her that "even in the worst conditions, Black women have looked up at the night sky and wondered."

From Salon • Apr. 20, 2021

“Ready for an exciting journey?” asks the prominent typeface on the road map’s frontispiece.

From Washington Post • Apr. 30, 2020

That book’s famous frontispiece, showing Wheatley putting quill pen to paper, finds an echo across the gallery, in a copy of “Prejudice Unveiled,” a 1907 poetry collection by Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer.

From New York Times • Jan. 16, 2020

The riders were as pale as the fairy woman on the frontispiece, and their faces were hollow skulls, their mouths gaping open.

From "Ash" by Malinda Lo