as in insults
an act or expression showing scorn and usually intended to hurt another's feelings
took it as an affront that she wasn't invited to say a few words at the ribbon-cutting ceremony
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in offends
to cause hurt feelings or deep resentment in
did not mean to affront you when I told you I didn't need your help
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of affronts
John Towfighi, CNN Money, 6 Feb. 2026
Shaban’s chief response to this and other affronts is silence.
—Sheri Linden, HollywoodReporter, 30 Jan. 2026
And those affronts to standard Hollywood operating procedure threaten millions of jobs across the industry.
—Chris Lee, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2025
Bukele, after a disastrous month for his image, was not willing to tolerate any more affronts.
—Óscar Martínez & Carlos Martínez, The Dial, 16 Sep. 2025
These constituencies view the sanctions and the tariffs as otherwise legal instruments weaponized for geopolitical purposes—and as direct affronts to Brazil’s democratic integrity.
—Hussein Kalout, Foreign Affairs, 2 Sep. 2025
Noun
Meanwhile, some on Wall Street continue to warn of complacency in financial markets amid affronts to the Fed’s independence, persistent nerves about a bubble and increasingly fraught geopolitics.
—John Towfighi, CNN Money, 6 Feb. 2026
Shaban’s chief response to this and other affronts is silence.
—Sheri Linden, HollywoodReporter, 30 Jan. 2026
And those affronts to standard Hollywood operating procedure threaten millions of jobs across the industry.
—Chris Lee, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2025
Bukele, after a disastrous month for his image, was not willing to tolerate any more affronts.
—Óscar Martínez & Carlos Martínez, The Dial, 16 Sep. 2025
These constituencies view the sanctions and the tariffs as otherwise legal instruments weaponized for geopolitical purposes—and as direct affronts to Brazil’s democratic integrity.
—Hussein Kalout, Foreign Affairs, 2 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for affronts
Noun
-
The play unfolds as a series of battles, where the unaccomplished George and the bitterly disappointed Martha exchange vicious and demeaning insults, using Nick and Honey as the unsuspecting pawns in their war for supremacy.—
Pam Kragen,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
10 Mar. 2026
-
The British, by contrast, preferred their insults more oblique.—
Jan Steyn,
The Dial,
10 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Obviously the blandness of a tan wall offends them.—
Joan Morris,
Mercury News,
9 Mar. 2026
-
If that language offends you — come on.—
Ryan Coleman,
Entertainment Weekly,
11 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
As has always been the case in my life, my main way of responding to political outrages is through writing and reading.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Jan. 2026
-
Rideout’s trial, for example, teemed with outrages.—
S. C. Cornell,
New Yorker,
5 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
First seen at a night-club table of menacing lowlifes, Ida, whose mother tongue is Brooklynese, suddenly switches to a heavy British accent and dispenses a torrent of highly literary sarcasms.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
4 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Mostly, Stanton’s sense of her own virtues made her bristle at all the great and petty indignities that characterized her place as a woman.—
Moira Donegan,
New Yorker,
13 Mar. 2026
-
Our antiheroine deals with these indignities by developing an erotic obsession with the department’s new, also-married hire, Vladimir (Leo Woodall).—
Judy Berman,
Time,
5 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Affronts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/affronts. Accessed 17 Mar. 2026.
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