frontline

American  

[fruhnt-lahyn] / ˈfrʌntˌlaɪn /

Or front-line

adjective

1. located or designed to be used at a military front line.

   a frontline ambulance helicopter.

2. of, relating to, or involving the forefront in any action, activity, or field.

   a frontline TV reporter.

3. highly experienced or proficient in the performance of one's duties.

4. of or relating to essential work that depends on in-person interactions and may involve some risk, especially policing, healthcare, emergency services, public transit, grocery, warehouse, and delivery work.

   Congress is taking up a bill that would guarantee sick leave and hazard pay to frontline workers.

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Etymology

Origin of frontline

First recorded in 1910–15; front (in the military sense) + line ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

frontline

New recruit Gonzalo Garcia comes in £0.5m more expensive to provide competition in the Fulham frontline, with Muniz producing one goal and one assist from 10 starts last season.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

The result of such sustained attacks is that the civilian population close to the frontline are getting increasingly cut off from health services.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

"Given the terrible toll on communities and frontline workers, we are encouraged that the approved Ebola vaccine Ervebo... could help reduce severe illness and deaths."

From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026

For more than a decade it has been a frontline, the first Greek soil that exhausted, terrified people touch when they cross from Turkey in boats that were never built for open water.

From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026

Out beyond the frontline trenches, no man’s land separating the opposing armies might be anywhere from a mile or more across to barely twenty-five yards wide.

From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman