affront

verb

af·front | \ ə-ˈfrənt

affronted; affronting; affronts

Definition of affront

(Entry 1 of 2)

transitive verb

1a : 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

2a : to face in defiance : confront affront death

b obsolete : to encounter face-to-face

3 : to appear directly before

affront

noun

Definition of affront (Entry 2 of 2)

1 : a deliberate offense : insult an affront to his dignity

2 obsolete : a hostile encounter

Synonyms Choose the Right Synonym Did You Know? More Example Sentences Learn More about affront

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Choose the Right Synonym for affront

Verb

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

Did You Know?

Verb

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."

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

Which is obviously why so many people are affronted by it. — Cincinnati Enquirer, "Read more from this Project," 13 July 2018 Over the past year, the Afghan Taliban has orchestrated an increasingly destructive insurgency across the war-tattered nation, affronting Afghan Security Forces and U.S troops with almost daily attacks. — Hollie Mckay, Fox News, "Taliban prisoners exploit release loophole with fake medical claims," 12 June 2018 But Johnson also affronted the public by consorting with and marrying white women. — Ellen Mcgirt, Fortune, "Donald Trump, Colin Kaepernick and Jack Johnson," 23 Apr. 2018 The Sixers’ most obvious failing came on offense in the face of the Heat’s personal-space-affronting defensive pressure. — David Murphy, Philly.com, "Sixers need Joel Embiid to contend, but not to beat the Heat | David Murphy," 18 Apr. 2018 That is a deliberate affront to affront Hindu values. — Win Mccormack, The New Republic, "Outside the Limits of the Human Imagination," 27 Mar. 2018 While personally affronted that Kitt would so publicly criticize him in the White House, Johnson knew why people protested. — Time, "Behind the Anti-War Protests That Swept America in 1968," 19 Jan. 2018 Would Trump seek to flatter or affront the globalists? — Time, "'America No Longer Matters.' Davos Isn't Worried About President Trump," 25 Jan. 2018 Once inside the cave, though, Aladdin can't resist grabbing a jade necklace for Jasmine, affronting the cave, which collapses and traps him and the lamp inside. — Margaret Gray, latimes.com, "In 'Aladdin' national tour, the magic carpet ride hits high gear only with the Genie out of his lamp," 25 Jan. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

These events were just as much an affront to justice as were the events of Sept. 11. — Lukas Mikelionis, Fox News, "US response to 9/11 was 'moment of hypocrisy,' former Obama official running for Congress wrote," 13 Sep. 2018 Golden State cemented itself as the most dominant team of its era, a direct affront to LeBron James’ track record, a foil to perhaps the most talented player ever. — Jeremy Woo, SI.com, "The Warriors Are Champions (Again) and They Aren't Going Anywhere," 8 June 2018 But characteristically, the English news media interpreted the situation as a kind of national affront disproportionately affecting its own players — and its own reporters. — Sarah Lyall, New York Times, "The Bugs of Volgograd: England-Tunisia Match Attracts Pests," 18 June 2018 The majority of Americans who don’t buy into Trump’s hateful, discriminatory rhetoric know full well that this president is an affront to our democracy and all this country claims to stand for. — Danielle Campoamor, Teen Vogue, "The New York Times’ Anonymous Op-Ed Writer Isn’t Helping Anyone," 7 Sep. 2018 Unionist protests have flared over far smaller affronts to British identity. — The Economist, "Twenty years after a peace deal the mood is sour in Northern Ireland," 28 Mar. 2018 In something of a diplomatic affront, Sebastian Kurz, the Austrian Chancellor, went as far as supporting Mr. Seehofer at a joint press conference in Berlin. — Bojan Pancevski, WSJ, "Immigration Backlash Erodes Merkel’s Power in Conservative Stronghold," 26 June 2018 In fact, some beauty brands see the internet giant’s way of doing business as an affront to glamour itself. — Stephanie Wong, Bloomberg.com, "Will Cosmetics Get an Amazon Makeover?," 9 Jan. 2018 Anything less than fealty toward him is seen as some type of affront or attack. — Monique Judge, The Root, "Trump’s On-Again, Off-Again Relationship With North Korea Is Back On. Again," 1 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'affront.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for affront

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"

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