affront

[ uh-fruhnt ]

/ əˈfrʌnt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR affront ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a personally offensive act or word; deliberate act or display of disrespect; intentional slight; insult: an affront to the king.

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

verb (used with object)

to offend by an open manifestation of disrespect or insolence: His speech affronted all of us.

to make ashamed or confused; embarrass.

Archaic. to front; face; look on.

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

Nearby words

Origin of affront

1300–50; Middle English afrounten < Middle French af(f)ronter to strike in the face < 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

SYNONYMS FOR affront

1. impertinence; contumely, scorn; indignity, abuse, outrage. See insult. 3. insult, slight, abuse.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR affront ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

af·front·ed·ly, adverbaf·front·ed·ness, nounaf·front·er, nounaf·front·ing·ly, adverb

re·af·front, noun, verb (used with object)un·af·front·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for affront

Historically, conservatives treated the minimum wage as an affront to free labor and a step on a slippery slope towards statism.
To Make Their Victory Durable, the GOP Must Fix the Minimum Wage|Dmitri Mehlhorn|November 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The reality-based community might have a difficult time fending off these two fronts of affront.
No, Stem Cells Don't Cause Autism|Kent Sepkowitz|September 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
What had been shrugged off in, say, California, was greeted in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Ohio, and Michigan as an affront.
Pancakes and Pickaninnies: The Saga of ‘Sambo’s,’ The ‘Racist’ Restaurant Chain America Once Loved|Andrew Romano|June 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Rape and sexual assault on college campuses are “an affront to our basic decency and humanity,” President Obama said yesterday.
Breaking the Silence Over Campus Rapes|Emily Shire|January 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST

This affront to common sense and common decency is difficult to defend.
The RNC’s Block-and-Blame Game|John Avlon|May 3, 2013|DAILY BEAST
He thought it an affront to his own person that that of his daughter should be so tranquilly regarded.
Athens: Its Rise and Fall, Complete|Edward Bulwer-Lytton
To one like Danjou, spoiled with every kind of success, the affront was deadly.
The Immortal|Alphonse Daudet
A crime and an outrage he called it, an affront to the industry and to the public.
Astounding Stories, August, 1931|Various
Isabel had been a little in advance, and had not seen and heard the affront, but she was in thorough sympathy with her mother.
A Reconstructed Marriage|Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
They are the silent traytors that affront majesty, and abuse all authority, under the colour of an Imprimatur.
Microcosmography|John Earle

British Dictionary definitions for affront

affront

/ (əˈfrʌnt) /

noun

a deliberate insult

verb (tr)

to insult, esp openly

to offend the pride or dignity of

obsolete to confront defiantly

Word Origin for affront

C14: from Old French afronter to strike in the face, from Vulgar Latin affrontāre (unattested), from the Latin phrase ad frontem to the face

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for affront

affront

early 14c., from Old French afronter "to face, confront, to slap in the face" (13c.), from Late Latin affrontare "to strike against," from Latin ad frontem "to the face," from frons (genitive frontis) "forehead" (see front (n.)). Related: Affronted; affronting.

affront

1590s, from affront (v.).

affront

noun

verb (used with object)

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of affront

Examples from the Web for affront

affront

noun

verb (tr)

Word Origin for affront

affront

affront