frontal
Americanadjective
-
of, in, or at the front.
a frontal view; frontal attack.
-
Anatomy.
-
of, relating to, or situated near the forehead or the frontal bone.
-
-
Meteorology. of or relating to the division between dissimilar air masses.
frontal zone; frontal surface.
-
Fine Arts.
-
exhibiting frontality.
-
parallel to the surface in the pictorial arts or seen from the front view in sculpture.
the frontal plane.
-
noun
-
Ecclesiastical. a movable cover or hanging for the front of an altar.
-
Anatomy. any of several parts in the frontal region, especially the frontal bone.
adjective
-
of, at, or in the front
-
of or relating to the forehead
frontal artery
-
of or relating to the anterior part of a body or organ
-
meteorol of, relating to, or resulting from a front or its passage
frontal rainfall
noun
-
a decorative hanging for the front of an altar
-
another name for frontlet
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of frontal
1275–1325; < Late Latin frontālis ( New Latin, in anatomy sense); replacing Middle English frountel < Old French frontel. See front, -al 1
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.
Dave Owen, a professor at UC Law San Francisco, said the suit is “a frontal assault on the State Water Project.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
But in the 1960s, she fused her mandala-faces and landscapes into dense, mysterious worlds—relief-like frontal fields in which deities, animals and foliage, woven together, blossom and interchange between figure and ground.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Psychiatric disorders were associated with elevated PAD in the frontal and temporal lobes, while dementia was linked to higher PAD in the frontal and occipital cortex.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 29, 2026
Pathology reports have shown that footballers "seem to have a unique distribution of the damage in their brain towards the frontal region", he added.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
I’m watching him and can’t tell what he’s thinking, but then he stops at the frontal view and inhales sharply as he raises a hand to his mouth.
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
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.
