frontline

or front-line

[ fruhnt-lahyn ]

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of frontline¹

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

Example Sentences

From people that are by your side every day, to people who are on the frontlines.

From Vox

For now, the focus is on getting 30 million health-care and frontline workers vaccinated.

From MIT Technology Review

Genesis has been on the frontlines during this pandemic with our leadership and employees working around the clock to keep our patients, residents and staff members as safe as possible.

From Washington Post

Nurses and other frontline workers rallied to the call for volunteers to distribute vaccines almost immediately.

From MIT Technology Review

Duckett gave frontline employees five additional paid days off and kept their pay the same even if their hours were reduced.

From Ozy

Such is the view from the Pech Valley in Kunar, a frontline that appears to be holding against substantial odds.

From The Daily Beast

“We are here in the frontline of the fight against Ebola; it is the first line of defense,” Duvillier continues.

From The Daily Beast

A guardsman told him to get on the bus, and the frontline express drove on again to Mariupol.

From The Daily Beast

After talking to several drivers and passengers, I decided to climb on the frontline express myself.

From The Daily Beast

For James, journalism was bearing witness, especially when it comes to frontline coverage.

From The Daily Beast

This sector was calm enough, as frontline sectors go, when we took it over.

From Project Gutenberg

A wonderfully short time ago he was quite a little boy; now he was in a frontline trench.

From Project Gutenberg