confrontational
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of confrontational
Explanation
Someone who's confrontational isn't shy about arguing forcefully — in fact, it's the way they often interact with other people. When guests on a TV talk show start yelling at each other, you can describe it as confrontational. When one person confronts another, they argue face-to-face — this interaction is confrontational. The Medieval Latin source of these words is confrontare, which simply means "adjoin," or "be next to," from the Latin roots com-, "together," and frontem, "forehead." So you could think of a confrontational situation as one in which two people are disagreeing while so close that their foreheads nearly touch.
Vocabulary lists containing confrontational
The Crossover
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Words with 15 or More Letters, List 3
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"Should Communities Set Teen Curfews?" and "Curfews: A National Debate"
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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.
"He believes that the more he and President Xi meet, the less confrontational that relationship will be," Orlins continued, "and he is right."
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
It was a sunbeam of grace in the confrontational hellscape we call modern society.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
She was never above criticism; financial television has long been too cozy with the executives it covers and too allergic to the kind of confrontational reporting that treats CEOs as accountable public actors.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2026
“People get confused. It’s not just the act of doing it; it’s doing it in a confrontational situation against an opponent. That’s what changes the picture,” Barton explained.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
For the moment, the oddness of my showing up was funnier than it was confrontational.
From "Hole in My Life" by Jack Gantos
Definitions 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.
