front

1. 1

   The foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves.countableuncountable

2. 2

   The side of a building with the main entrance.countableuncountable

   • I'll go out the front, and you go out the back.
   • Flowering plants cascaded down the fronts of the buildings.
3. 3

   A field of activity.countableuncountable

   • Becoming more aware of the progress that scientists have made on behavioral fronts can reduce the risk that other natural scientists will resort to mystical agential accounts when they exceed the limits of their own disciplinary training.
4. 4

   A person or institution acting as the public face of some other, covert group.countableuncountable

   • Near-synonyms: frontperson, frontman, front man
   • Officially it's a dry-cleaning shop, but everyone knows it's a front for the mafia.
5. 5

   The interface or transition zone between two airmasses of different density, often resulting in precipitation. Since the temperature distribution is the most important regulator of atmospheric density, a front almost invariably separates airmasses of different temperature.countableuncountable

   • We need to take the clothes off the line. The news reported a front is coming in from the east, and we can expect heavy rain and maybe hail.
6. 6

   An area where armies are engaged in conflict, especially the line of contact.countableuncountable

7. 7

   The lateral space occupied by an element measured from the extremity of one flank to the extremity of the other flank.countableuncountable

8. 8

   The direction of the enemy.countableuncountable

9. 9

   When a combat situation does not exist or is not assumed, the direction toward which the command is faced.countableuncountable

10. 10

    A major military subdivision of the Soviet Army.countablehistoricaluncountable

syn. fore

ant. back · rear · derrière

1. 1

   Located at or near the front.

   • The front runner was thirty meters ahead of her nearest competitor.
2. 2

   Pronounced with the highest part of the body of the tongue toward the front of the mouth, near the hard palate (most often describing a vowel).comparable

   • The English word dress has a front vowel in most dialects.
3. 3

   Closest or nearest, of a set of futures contracts which expire at particular times, or of the times they expire; (typically, the front month or front year is the next calendar month or year after the current one).

   • Contracts are available for every month in the front year but do not extend over a year.
   • Contract months : March, June, September and December[.] Minimum price fluctuation : 0.005 Index Point (1/2 basis point) equivalent to USD 12.50 per tick for the front-year Eurodollar futures[…]

ant. back · last · rear

1. 1

   To face (on, to); to be pointed in a given direction.datedintransitive

   • The palazzo has always fronted on a bus stop—but this putative man of the people has kindly put an end to that public service.
2. 2

   To face, be opposite to.transitive

   • After saluting her, he led her to a couch that fronted us, where they both sat down, and the young Genoese helped her to a glass of wine, with some Naples biscuit on a salver.
   • […]down they ran into the dining-room, which fronted the lane, in quest of this wonder; it was two ladies stopping in a low phaeton at the garden gate.
3. 3

   To face up to, to meet head-on, to confront.transitive

   • Know you not Gaueston hath store of golde, Which may in Ireland purchase him such friends, As he will front the mightiest of vs all,
   • What well-appointed leader fronts us here?
4. 4

   To adorn with, at the front; to put on the front.transitive

   • Three tiers of balconies fronted with roped columns supporting arched openings looked down on the marble hall.
5. 5

   To pronounce with the tongue in a front position.intransitivetransitive

   • The velar plosives are often fronted through the influence of a following front vowel, and retracted through the influence of a following back vowel.
   • Finally, the pretonic -e- of this *tsengòrra would have been fronted, yielding *tsingòrra.
6. 6

   To move (a word or clause) to the start of a sentence (or series of adjectives, etc).transitive

   • A problem facing any syntactic analysis of hyperbaton is that nonconstituent strings are fronted […] In cases where the adjective is fronted with the determiner, the determiner is not doubled […]
7. 7

   To act as a front (for); to cover (for).intransitiveslang

   • Everybody knew Skopas fronted for the fight mob even though he was officially the arena manager.
8. 8

   To lead or be the spokesperson of (a campaign, organisation etc.).transitive

   • Ray Winstone is fronting a campaign for the Football Association that aims to stop pushy parents shouting abuse at their children during the grassroots football season.
9. 9

   Of an alter in a person with multiplicity (especially in dissociative identity disorder): to be the currently actively presenting member of (a system), in control of the person's body.ambitransitive

   • Fronting can be understood as a representation of who controls the system, that is, the person to whom you are speaking. Emilia was typically the person fronting her system.
10. 10

    To provide money or financial assistance in advance to.colloquialtransitive

    • I'm prepared to say that I fronted you the money for a business deal with me, and the investment paid off brilliantly.

1. 1

   Used to summon a worker on duty, such as a bellhop.

   • Front, boy. Front, boy. Front, boy. Front, boy. You four boys show Mr. and Mrs. Gilbreth and their seven—-or so—-Irishmen to 503, 504, 505, 506, and 507.