affront
- 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.
- 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.
Origin of affront
Synonyms for affront
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comRelated Words for affront
indignity, provocation, slight, slur, slap, wrong, abuse, outrage, offense, injury, vexation, put-down, brickbat, annoy, criticize, pique, taunt, displease, slander, vexExamples from the Web for affront
Contemporary Examples of affront
Historically, conservatives treated the minimum wage as an affront to free labor and a step on a slippery slope towards statism.
The reality-based community might have a difficult time fending off these two fronts of affront.
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 LovedAndrew Romano
June 30, 2014
Rape and sexual assault on college campuses are “an affront to our basic decency and humanity,” President Obama said yesterday.
This affront to common sense and common decency is difficult to defend.
Historical Examples of affront
It would be an affront to your own judgment, if you did not: For do you not ask my advice?
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
I knocked him down, telling him that it was he that was the savage to affront a lady.
Tales And Novels, Volume 4 (of 10)Maria Edgeworth
Your coming here is an affront, an impertinence, an audacity.
Little DorritCharles Dickens
If he did not kiss the lilac he was sure to suffer an affront.
His MasterpieceEmile Zola
The young lady would not affront him by refusing to take some syrup.
Doctor PascalEmile Zola
affront
- a deliberate insult
- to insult, esp openly
- to offend the pride or dignity of
- obsolete to confront defiantly
Word Origin for affront
Word Origin and History for 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.
1590s, from affront (v.).