FRONT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does front mean? 

• FRONT (noun)
  The noun FRONT has 10 senses:

1. the side that is forward or prominent

2. the line along which opposing armies face each other

3. the outward appearance of a person

4. the side that is seen or that goes first

5. a person used as a cover for some questionable activity

6. a sphere of activity involving effort

7. (meteorology) the atmospheric phenomenon created at the boundary between two different air masses

8. the immediate proximity of someone or something

9. the part of something that is nearest to the normal viewer

10. a group of people with a common ideology who try together to achieve certain general goals

  Familiarity information: FRONT used as a noun is familiar.

• FRONT (adjective)
  The adjective FRONT has 1 sense:

1. relating to or located in the front

  Familiarity information: FRONT used as an adjective is very rare.

• FRONT (verb)
  The verb FRONT has 2 senses:

1. be oriented in a certain direction, often with respect to another reference point; be opposite to

2. confront bodily

  Familiarity information: FRONT used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FRONT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The side that is forward or prominent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

forepart; front; front end

Hypernyms ("front" is a kind of...):

face; side (a surface forming part of the outside of an object)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "front"):

forefront; head (the part in the front or nearest the viewer)

Antonym:

rear (the side of an object that is opposite its front)

Derivation:

front (confront bodily)

front (be oriented in a certain direction, often with respect to another reference point; be opposite to)

frontal (belonging to the front part)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The line along which opposing armies face each other

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

battlefront; front; front line

Hypernyms ("front" is a kind of...):

line (a fortified position (especially one marking the most forward position of troops))

Holonyms ("front" is a part of...):

battlefield; battleground; field; field of battle; field of honor (a region where a battle is being (or has been) fought)

Derivation:

frontal (meeting front to front)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The outward appearance of a person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

he put up a bold front

Hypernyms ("front" is a kind of...):

appearance (a mental representation)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The side that is seen or that goes first

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("front" is a kind of...):

side (an extended outer surface of an object)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "front"):

facade; frontage; frontal (the face or front of a building)

face (the side upon which the use of a thing depends (usually the most prominent surface of an object))

frontispiece (front illustration facing the title page of a book)

nose (a front that resembles a human nose (especially the front of an aircraft))

nose (the front or forward projection of a tool or weapon)

nose cone; ogive (front consisting of the conical head of a missile or rocket that protects the payload from heat during its passage through the atmosphere)

shirtfront (the front of a shirt (usually the part not covered by a jacket))

shopfront; storefront (the front side of a store facing the street; usually contains display windows)

bow; fore; prow; stem (front part of a vessel or aircraft)

Antonym:

rear (the side that goes last or is not normally seen)

Derivation:

frontal (belonging to the front part)

front (confront bodily)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A person used as a cover for some questionable activity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

figurehead; front; front man; nominal head; straw man; strawman

Hypernyms ("front" is a kind of...):

beguiler; cheat; cheater; deceiver; slicker; trickster (someone who leads you to believe something that is not true)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A sphere of activity involving effort

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

they advertise on many different fronts

Hypernyms ("front" is a kind of...):

area; arena; domain; field; orbit; sphere (a particular environment or walk of life)

Sense 7

Meaning:

(meteorology) the atmospheric phenomenon created at the boundary between two different air masses

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("front" is a kind of...):

atmospheric phenomenon (a physical phenomenon associated with the atmosphere)

Domain category:

meteorology (the earth science dealing with phenomena of the atmosphere (especially weather))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "front"):

warm front (the front of an advancing mass of warmer air)

cold front; polar front (the front of an advancing mass of colder air)

occluded front; occlusion ((meteorology) a composite front when colder air surrounds a mass of warm air and forces it aloft)

Derivation:

frontal (of or relating to the front of an advancing mass of air)

Sense 8

Meaning:

The immediate proximity of someone or something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

front; presence

Context example:

he was well behaved in front of company

Hypernyms ("front" is a kind of...):

proximity (the region close around a person or thing)

Sense 9

Meaning:

The part of something that is nearest to the normal viewer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Context example:

he walked to the front of the stage

Hypernyms ("front" is a kind of...):

place; position (the particular portion of space occupied by something)

Antonym:

back (the part of something that is furthest from the normal viewer)

Derivation:

front (be oriented in a certain direction, often with respect to another reference point; be opposite to)

frontal (belonging to the front part)

Sense 10

Meaning:

A group of people with a common ideology who try together to achieve certain general goals

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

front; movement; social movement

Context example:

he led the national liberation front

Hypernyms ("front" is a kind of...):

social group (people sharing some social relation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "front"):

common front (a movement in which several individuals or groups with different interests join together)

Zionism; Zionist movement (a movement of world Jewry that arose late in the 19th century with the aim of creating a Jewish state in Palestine)

religious movement (a movement intended to bring about religious reforms)

reform movement (a movement intended to bring about social and humanitarian reforms)

political movement (a group of people working together to achieve a political goal)

falun gong (a spiritual movement that began in China in the latter half of the 20th century and is based on Buddhist and Taoist teachings and practices)

ecumenism; oecumenism (a movement promoting union between religions (especially between Christian churches))

cultural movement (a group of people working together to advance certain cultural goals)

Civil Rights movement (movement in the United States beginning in the 1960s and led primarily by Blacks in an effort to establish the civil rights of individual Black citizens)

Boy Scouts (an international (but decentralized) movement started in 1908 in England with the goal of teaching good citizenship to boys)

art movement; artistic movement (a group of artists who agree on general principles)

Fighting French; Free French (a French movement during World War II that was organized in London by Charles de Gaulle to fight for the liberation of France from German control and for the restoration of the republic)

• FRONT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Relating to or located in the front

Context example:

the front porch

Similar:

advance; advanced; in advance (situated ahead or going before)

foremost; frontmost (preceding all others in spatial position)

frontal; head-on (meeting front to front)

Also:

anterior (of or near the head end or toward the front plane of a body)

first (preceding all others in time or space or degree)

fore (situated at or toward the bow of a vessel)

Antonym:

back (related to or located at the back)

• FRONT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they front    ... he / she / it fronts   
Past simple: fronted   
Past participle: fronted   
-ing form: fronting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be oriented in a certain direction, often with respect to another reference point; be opposite to

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

face; front; look

Context example:

The building faces the park

Hypernyms (to "front" is one way to...):

lie (be located or situated somewhere; occupy a certain position)

Verb group:

face (be opposite)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "front"):

confront (be face to face with)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sentence example:

His fields front mine at this point

Antonym:

back (be in back of)

Derivation:

front (the side that is forward or prominent)

front (the part of something that is nearest to the normal viewer)

frontage (the direction in which something (such as a building) faces)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Confront bodily

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

breast; front

Context example:

breast the storm

Hypernyms (to "front" is one way to...):

confront; face (oppose, as in hostility or a competition)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

front (the side that is seen or that goes first)

front (the side that is forward or prominent)

 Context examples 

She sat on one side of the fire; I sat at the desk in front of it; a little beyond me, on the other side, sat Agnes.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He mounted the steps and entered the room where the maiden was sitting, with a golden goblet full of wine in front of her.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

For this, patients sat in front of a screen and were asked to learn pairs of words, such as “finger” and “needle.”

(Our brains may ripple before remembering, National Institutes of Health)

Other fronts in similar wave trains tilt significantly with respect to the orientation of the wave train, and still other wave trains follow slanted or meandering paths.

(NASA's Juno Mission Detects Jupiter Wave Trains, NASA)

First, however, if you are to see solid progress on the financial front, you will need to wait for Mercury to go direct.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Pivoting on his hind legs, and snapping and gashing, he was everywhere at once, presenting a front which was apparently unbroken so swiftly did he whirl and guard from side to side.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Oz ordered the balloon carried out in front of the Palace, and the people gazed upon it with much curiosity.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Prostate cancer, this buildup of abnormal cells in a man’s prostate — a gland below the bladder and in front of the rectum — often has no early symptoms and usually grows very slowly.

(Biomarker Signatures of Prostate Cancer, NIH)

Since moons outside our solar system – known as exomoons – cannot be imaged directly, their presence is inferred when they pass in front of a star, momentarily dimming its light.

(Astronomers Find First Evidence of Possible Moon Outside Our Solar System, NASA)

At the front were the strongest.

(White Fang, by Jack London)