forefront

American  

[fawr-fruhnt, fohr-] / ˈfɔrˌfrʌnt, ˈfoʊr- /

noun

forefronts plural

1. the foremost part or place.

2. the position of greatest importance or prominence.

   in the forefront of today's writers.

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forefront British  

/ ˈfɔːˌfrʌnt /

noun

1. the extreme front

2. the position of most prominence, responsibility, or action

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• forefronts
  plural

Etymology

Origin of forefront

First recorded in 1425–75, forefront is from the late Middle English word forfrount, forefrount. See fore-, front

Explanation

If you're at the forefront, you're either the very first to do something or you're in the most important position. Inventing an effective new vaccine would put a scientist at the forefront of modern medicine. The word forefront has been used since the 1600s to mean "front part." Originally, it referred to architecture — you might have commented on the way windows were placed on the forefront of a building, for example. Later, it was used to describe the soldiers at the very front of an advancing army. Today when we talk about the forefront, we usually mean the highest ranking place or position: "She's an amazing comic book artist who's at the forefront of contemporary graphic art."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

forefront forefronts

I wrote a daily newsletter about energy policy at the time, and, in my efforts to be at the forefront of the news, I gobbled up those nuggets as well.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

French lawmakers are expected to approve a bill banning social media access for children under 15 on Tuesday, putting France at the forefront of similar efforts in the European Union.

From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026

Heavily backed by domestic tech giants Alibaba and Tencent, Moonshot has quickly risen to the forefront of China's generative AI ecosystem.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

“These are really the companies at the forefront, and they’re going to create, in our opinion, so much value, and people are missing that because they’re just focused on the near term,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026

Andrew was not a member of the High Organ and had not been in the forefront of the island leadership, although we considered the possibility that the authorities did not know this.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

Though it forefronts Schuyler’s central question — Is the goal of racial progress the ennoblement of Blackness or its disappearance into a “chromatic democracy”? — its tone is jumpy and its storytelling lumpy.

From New York Times ● Feb. 15, 2022

"What we've got here is the failure of talks and the president taking action on forefronts to help for discrete groups," Navarro said.

From Fox News ● Aug. 9, 2020

But what we haven't quite left behind is some expectation of top shelf grandeur that forefronts high style even if that comes at the expense of substance.

From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2020

Indeed, the film’s primary themes are showbiz success and parenting — whether the former creates more problems and the latter often forefronts an inability to solve them.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2017

The others will succeed, just as they have succeeded elsewhere on the forefronts of civilization; the pity of it is that their lot may not be made easier, surer.

From In the Oregon Country Out-Doors in Oregon, Washington, and California Together with some Legendary Lore, and Glimpses of the Modern West in the Making by Putnam, George Palmer

Related Words

• cutting edge
• fore
• front line
• leading edge
• limelight
• vanguard