frontal

noun

fron·tal | \ˈfrən-tᵊl

Definition of frontal

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 [ Middle English frontel, from Medieval Latin frontellum, diminutive of Latin front-, frons ] : a cloth hanging over the front of an altar

2 : facade sense 1

frontal

adjective

Definition of frontal (Entry 2 of 2)

1 : of, relating to, or adjacent to the forehead or the frontal bone

2a : of, relating to, or situated at the front

b : directed against the front or at the main point or issue : direct frontal assault

3 : parallel to the main axis of the body and at right angles to the sagittal plane

4 : of or relating to a meteorological front

Other Words from frontal Synonyms & Antonyms Example Sentences Learn More about frontal

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Synonyms & Antonyms for frontal

Synonyms: Adjective

anterior, fore, forward, front, frontward (or frontwards)

Antonyms: Adjective

aft, after, hind, hinder, hindmost, posterior, rear, rearward

Examples of frontal in a Sentence

Adjective

most cars have the engine in the frontal part

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Don’t blame James Ivory for Call Me By Your Name‘s lack of full-frontal male nudity. — Dave Quinn, PEOPLE.com, "Call Me By Your Name's Oscar-Winning Screenwriter Blasts His Own Film for Lack of Male Nudity," 28 Mar. 2018 The team next gave participants a working-memory task and found traveling waves in their frontal and temporal lobes became more organized half a second after people were prompted to recall information. — Simon Makin, Scientific American, "“Traveling” Brain Waves May Be Critical for Cognition," 28 June 2018 Cortical folding appears to decrease with age across large swaths of the frontal, parietal and occipital lobes in both young people with autism and controls. — Rachel Zamzow, Scientific American, "Brains of Children with Autism Show Unusual Folding Patterns," 9 July 2018 Viewed from the side, Washington’s Roman nose seems larger than in the frontal poses in the familiar paintings. — Barrymore Laurence Scherer, WSJ, "‘Canova’s George Washington’ Review: The Very Model of a Lost Masterpiece," 9 June 2018 His frontals start at $1,000, lace front wigs go for $2000, and custom wigs go for double that. — refinery29.com, "Death Threats & $3 Ponytails: What The Fake Hair Trade Is Hiding," 9 June 2018 There should be some sunshine Tuesday morning before an approaching frontal system generates some afternoon and evening showers. — Hartford Courant, courant.com, "Rain In The Forecast For Monday And Tuesday," 3 June 2018 The month’s weather was marked by a persistent pattern in which frontal boundaries remained draped over the region. — Scott Dance, baltimoresun.com, "Baltimore rainfall topped 8 inches for just the third time on record in May," 1 June 2018 But in modern humans, the frontal lobes of the brain have expanded toward the back and sides, creating structures called the frontal opercula. — Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, "Homo naledi’s brain: Like ours, but smaller," 14 May 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective

Meanwhile, strong to severe thunderstorms along with locally heavy rain will develop along a frontal boundary that extends from Texas up into the Great Lakes and out into the MidAtlantic. — Janice Dean, Fox News, "Tropical disturbance brings heavy rain to Florida," 14 May 2018 In Tennyson’s hands the light brigade’s disastrous frontal assault on Russian troops in the Crimean War produced some stirring verse. — William Mcgurn, WSJ, "Dick Durbin’s Supreme Sacrifice," 9 July 2018 But earlier, the president with a frontal attack on Merkel, hammering Germany for its pipeline deal with Putin, to pump natural gas from Russia directly to Germany. — Fox News, "US ambassador to UK reacts to Trump's NATO comments," 12 July 2018 The artist and the show’s organizers couldn’t have known that just as the show opened, U.S. immigration officers would begin a frontal attack on this maternal bond, wresting children from their parents and confining them in detention centers. — Thomas Hine, Philly.com, "Philly artists' big, urgent show at Woodmere looks out from the rowhouse to the world," 21 June 2018 An isolated, weak tornado cannot be ruled out, given the tendency of these frontal boundaries to generate a bit of spin at low levels and feeding that spin into a thunderstorm cell. — Jeff Halverson, Washington Post, "Heavy showers and storms may target Washington region around sunset," 20 June 2018 Our next chance of rain will be Thursday and Friday into Saturday as a frontal boundary becomes stationary over our area, boosting humidity and triggering periods of showers and thunderstorms. — Tom Skilling, chicagotribune.com, "Winds will shift, ushering in colder air Tuesday," 4 June 2018 Riley wrote a full-frontal nude scene to ensure Cassius felt raw and exposed. — Amy Nicholson, chicagotribune.com, "Is Hollywood ready for the brilliant weirdness of Lakeith Stanfield?," 3 July 2018 Because the line of view is directed at the moon instead of the sun, lunar eclipses, unlike solar eclipses, are completely safe for full frontal viewing. — Katherine J. Wu, Smithsonian, "The Century’s Longest Lunar Eclipse Will Shroud the Moon This Month," 2 July 2018

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