confront
Americanverb (used with object)
-
confronts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
confronted,
past participle, past
-
confronting
present participle
-
to face in hostility or defiance; oppose.
The feuding factions confronted one another.
-
to present for acknowledgment, contradiction, etc.; set face to face.
They confronted him with evidence of his crime.
-
to face and deal with boldly or directly.
The city refuses to confront the real reason for the housing shortage.
-
to stand or come in front of; stand or meet facing.
The two long-separated brothers confronted each other speechlessly.
-
to be in one's way.
the numerous obstacles that still confronted him.
-
to bring together for examination or comparison.
verb
-
(usually foll by with) to present or face (with something), esp in order to accuse or criticize
-
to face boldly; oppose in hostility
-
to be face to face with; be in front of
-
to bring together for comparison
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
confrontsimple
-
confrontssimple
-
have confrontedperfect
-
has confrontedperfect
-
am confrontingprogressive
-
are confrontingprogressive
-
is confrontingprogressive
-
have been confrontingperfect progressive
-
has been confrontingperfect progressive
Past
-
confrontedsimple
-
had confrontedperfect
-
was confrontingprogressive
-
were confrontingprogressive
-
had been confrontingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of confront
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Medieval Latin confrontārī, equivalent to Latin con-, variant of intensive prefix com- + -frontārī, derivative of Latin frōns (stem front- ) “forehead”; see origin at con-, front
Explanation
Confront means either to face a situation that makes you uncomfortable, or to say something to someone about something they've done that bothers you. Rather than letting things go, when people are rude to you you should confront them. Confront derives from the Latin con- "with" and -front "front." You can confront a sad truth, you can confront a person by calling them on their behavior, you can confront someone with the fact that they have terrible breath. You can be confronted, too—on the trip through the mountains, we were confronted by the impassibility of the road.
Vocabulary lists containing confront
The Bill of Rights
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Twelve Days in May
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Oppenheim said as the process rolled out it began to feel like "the only way, maybe, to actually make this is also to have someone kind of confront, you know, their delusions on certain aspects."
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, in his latest message, has insisted security forces are not under orders to "confront high-school students", only to enforce the law.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
From them we can rediscover the virtues, the courage, and the strength to confront the dangers that we face in our time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson received a technical foul late in her team’s playoff loss to the Fever after leaving the court to confront a fan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
At least they didn’t confront me about June.
From "P.S. I Miss You" by Jen Petro-Roy
But Polanski now confronts the greatest crisis of his leadership so far.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
An epic hero does not scorn death; he appreciates its gravity and confronts it anyway.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
But its collapse comes as Congress confronts an even more complex struggle over artificial intelligence.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
Brammall reflected on his busy year personally and professionally, including how being a new dad helped him access what his “Last Seen” character confronts and whether he’s up for a big action role next.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
He confronts police problems and finds new donors.
From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country had "some difficulties... about Starlink and about intelligence" as it confronted Russian attacks on Wednesday.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
"It's understandable because GPs are often confronted with depressed patients and therefore they're very focused on diagnosing depression correctly," he said.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
That virtuous life for Aristotle was marked by finding the mean, or happy medium, when confronted with rivaling claims.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
The actuator bottleneck Cardenas has warned against is being confronted industry-wide in the U.S.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
Hearing the news, my grandmother and grandfather confronted my mother.
From "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" by William Kamkwamba
Ukraine is understandably cagey about how it goes about confronting this increasingly sophisticated threat, but electronic methods to disrupt the drones' connectivity are high on the list.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
In a place filled with people confronting the challenge of rebuilding their lives, the lyrics of one particular song were a reverie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
"He didn't have a problem confronting much more experienced researchers."
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
Last week, the school issued a more-than-200-page internal report confronting what it called an unprecedented crisis in higher education, thanks to unstable federal funding, falling public trust and the rise of artificial intelligence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
This can mean being honest about your own behaviors or emotions, or confronting truths with people who harmed you, as Terryl did, and Linton did, and still struggles to do.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
