as in marginal
located at or near a border
a frontier town with a reputation for vice and lawlessness
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in border
a region along the dividing line between two countries
the Apaches were once feared on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico frontier
Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in countryside
a rural region that forms the edge of the settled or developed part of a country
Alaska has been called America's last frontier
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of frontier
Charlie Campbell, Time, 11 Dec. 2025
Samantha Agate, Kansas City Star, 3 Apr. 2026
While many of Sheridan’s projects feature actors with deep roots in the Western genre, Pfeiffer isn’t the first elite actor to step into frontier storytelling for the first time under his direction.
—Ashley Hume, FOXNews.com, 3 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for frontier
Adjective
That worried Huang, who fears a Chinese rival, and White House officials, who believe Chinese dependence on non-frontier American chips is the best way to ensure a lead in AI.
—Charlie Campbell, Time, 11 Dec. 2025
Noun
Released just one year before Apollo 11, the film contributed to a cultural atmosphere that treated space exploration as an achievable frontier rather than fantasy.
—Samantha Agate, Kansas City Star, 3 Apr. 2026
While many of Sheridan’s projects feature actors with deep roots in the Western genre, Pfeiffer isn’t the first elite actor to step into frontier storytelling for the first time under his direction.
—Ashley Hume, FOXNews.com, 3 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for frontier
Recent Examples of Synonyms for frontier
Adjective
-
Of course, many heading into those master’s degrees often majored in the same fields in undergraduate degrees, which already have high average annual earnings, explaining the marginal gains observed in the study.—
Jake Angelo,
Fortune,
4 Apr. 2026
-
Only a marginal threat of severe storms exists for parts of the East Coast, including eastern North Carolina, southeast Virginia and southern Maryland.—
Brandi D. Addison,
USA Today,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
While these were heard mainly in towns close to the Lebanese border in the north, sirens were also heard in Jerusalem and central Israel.—
Kevin Collier,
NBC news,
2 Apr. 2026
-
Early voting started in Georgia's 14th congressional district — which spans from the outskirts of metro Atlanta northwest to the southern border of Tennessee — on March 30 and continues to April 2 before election day next week.—
Irene Wright,
USA Today,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Some were draped in ivy, others adorned with pink blossoms, but none are forgotten by nature’s touch—each brought to life by the intricate details that transport you into a postcard of the Italian countryside.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
3 Apr. 2026
-
Meanwhile, niche perfume brand Maison Louis Marie offers several scent options, including Bois de Balincourt (an intoxicating woody scent), inspired by the founder’s ancestral French countryside home.—
Conçetta Ciarlo,
Vogue,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
That decade started with the 1973 oil embargo by Arab countries who were members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, and ended with the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which many attribute to helping end Jimmy Carter's presidency.—
Phillip M. Bailey,
USA Today,
4 Apr. 2026
-
And both reckon with the extent to which historical ignorance and the calculated distortion of the past threaten the foundation on which our country was built.—
Francine Prose,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Gold transformed Victoria from a pastoral backwater into the most celebrated colony of the empire.—
Britannica Editors,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
19 Mar. 2026
-
At that time, in the 1920s, France was really a backwater in theoretical physics.—
Tim Folger,
Scientific American,
16 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Moreover, as soon as Christianity began to spread outside his native land, Christian converts faced new situations in unexpected contexts, completely different from those of their founder, an itinerant Jewish preacher in the sparsely populated hinterlands of rural Galilee.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
26 Mar. 2026
-
Scattered across the continent were hundreds of towns populated by a few hundred people, and each of these towns had an economic hinterland of perhaps 50 to 100 square miles, with the bulk of all agricultural and household production produced and remaining in that area.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
25 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Exposing only one person at a time to avalanche terrain is an accepted best practice for backcountry travel.—
Ethan Baron,
Mercury News,
4 Apr. 2026
-
By year’s end, another one-bedroom cottage and four-bedroom home will be completed, and Henkel has a permit to rebuild a backcountry ruin about four miles away from the main complex.—
Jen Murphy,
Robb Report,
4 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The 13th hole, titled Azalea, is home to about 1,600 bushes that reach their peak brilliance during tournament week.—
LP O'Brien,
AJC.com,
5 Apr. 2026
-
The story began on March 24, when a hiker slipped and fell from a 180-foot waterfall in wild New Zealand bush.—
Samantha Agate,
Miami Herald,
3 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Frontier.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/frontier. Accessed 9 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
