affront

1 of 2

verb

af·​front ə-ˈfrənt 

affronted; affronting; affronts

transitive verb

1

a

: to insult especially to the face by behavior or language

He was affronted by her rudeness.

b

: to cause offense to

laws that affront society

2

a

: to face in defiance : confront

affront death

b

obsolete : to encounter face-to-face

3

: to appear directly before

affront

2 of 2

noun

1

: a deliberate offense : insult

an affront to his dignity

2

obsolete : a hostile encounter

Did you know?

The Middle English "afronten," the ancestor of the Modern English verb "affront," was borrowed from the Anglo-French afrunter, a verb which means "to defy" but which also has the specific meaning "to strike on the forehead" or "to slap on the face." These more literal senses reveal the word's Latin origins, a combination of the Latin prefix ad-, meaning "to" or "towards," and "front-, frons," which means "forehead" (and which is also the source of the English word front). While the striking or slapping sense of "afrunter" was not adopted by English, it is alluded to in the oldest uses of "afronten" in Middle English in the sense of "to insult especially to the face."

Synonyms

Verb

• insult
• offend
• outrage

Noun

• insult
• offence
• sarcasm
• outrage

Choose the Right Synonym for affront

offend, outrage, affront, insult mean to cause hurt feelings or deep resentment.

offend need not imply an intentional hurting but it may indicate merely a violation of the victim's sense of what is proper or fitting.

hoped that my remarks had not offended her

outrage implies offending beyond endurance and calling forth extreme feelings.

outraged by their accusations

affront implies treating with deliberate rudeness or contemptuous indifference to courtesy.

deeply affronted by his callousness

insult suggests deliberately causing humiliation, hurt pride, or shame.

insulted every guest at the party

Examples of affront in a Sentence

Verb

did not mean to affront you when I told you I didn't need your help

Noun

He regarded her rude behavior as a personal affront.

took it as an affront that she wasn't asked to help cook Thanksgiving dinner

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Many Idaho liberals of all ages were especially affronted by the fact that the Israeli government paid for the lawmakers’ travel, said Olivia Luna, the president of Idaho’s Babe Vote, who signed the letter as an individual calling for Rubel’s resignation. —Sarah Cutler, Idaho Statesman, 30 Sep. 2025

Thinking about it that way invests meaning in an anecdote Norris related about a member of the copy department so affronted by something a colleague had done that she was inspired to pick up an object and hurl it in that colleague’s general direction. —Ben Yagoda, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025

Noun

This is an affront to human dignity and that’s incredibly terrifying. —Khaleda Rahman, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025

This was quite an affront to the members of De Stijl who believed otherwise. —JSTOR Daily, 15 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English afronten, afrounten, borrowed from Anglo-French afrunter "to strike the front of, shame," derivative from the phrase a frunt "facing, openly, blatantly," from a "to, at" (going back to Latin ad) + frunt "front entry 1, forehead" — more at at entry 1

Noun

borrowed from Middle French, noun derivative of affronter "to affront entry 1"

First Known Use

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Noun

1533, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for affront

• confront
• exeunt
• forefront
• lakefront
• manhunt
• sederunt
• battlefront
• oceanfront
• riverfront
• waterfront
• blunt
• brunt

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Kids Definition

affront

1 of 2 verb

af·​front ə-ˈfrənt 

: to insult openly : offend

affront

2 of 2 noun

: a deliberately insulting or disrespectful act or utterance