affront

See also: Affront

English

WOTD – 5 February 2010

Etymology

From Middle English afrounten, from Old French afronter (“to defy”), from Vulgar Latin *affrontare (“to hit in the face”), from Latin ad (“to”) + frōns (“forehead”) (English front).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈfɹʌnt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌnt

Verb

affront (third-person singular simple present affronts, present participle affronting, simple past and past participle affronted)

1. (transitive) To insult intentionally, especially openly.
   • 1701–03, Joseph Addison, “The Isle of Caprea”, in Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c., published 1721, page 92:

     But beſides, that ſuch a thought was inconſiſtent with the gravity of a Senate, how can one imagine that the Fathers would have dared affront the Wife of Aurelius, and the Mother of Commodus, or that they could think of giving offence to an Empreſs whom they afterwards Defied, and to an Emperor that was the darling of the army and people?

2. (transitive) To meet defiantly; to confront.

   to affront death

   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 436:

     Avignon was beginning to settle down for the night – that long painful stretch of time which must somehow be affronted.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To meet or encounter face to face.
   • 1601, Pliny the Elder, translated by Philemon Holland, The History of the World, volume I, translation of Naturalis Historia (in Classical Latin), published 1634, book VI, page 124:

     Many Iſlands there lie all over that ſea : but one above the reſt, and moſt renowned, is Tazata : for thither all the ſhipping from out of the Caſpian ſea and the Scythian Ocean, doe bend their courſe and there arrive : for that all the ſea coaſts doe affront the Levant, and turne into the Eaſt.

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 265, column 1:

     Sweet Gertrude leaue vs too, / For we haue cloſely ſent for Hamlet hither, / That he, as ’twere by accident, may there / Affront Ophelia.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:offend

Derived terms

• affrontable
• affrontee
• affrontery
• affrontive
• affrontment

 

Translations

to insult intentionally, especially openly

• Armenian: վիրավորել (hy) (viravorel)
• Bulgarian: оскърбявам (bg) (oskǎrbjavam)
• Czech: vysmívat se, urazit (cs) pf
• Danish: fornærme
• Dutch: beledigen (nl)
• Finnish: loukata (fi), solvata (fi), herjata (fi)
• French: défier (fr), jeter le gant (fr), envoyer un cartel
• German: beleidigen (de)
• Hungarian: sért (hu)
• Irish: maslaigh
• Italian: insultare (it)
• Macedonian: на́вреди (návredi)
• Maori: muhani, muheni, whakamanioro, whakamania
• Polish: afrontować (pl) impf (obsolete)
• Portuguese: afrontar (pt)
• Russian: оскорбля́ть (ru) (oskorbljátʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: inzultirati (sh), uvrijéditi (sh)
• Spanish: afrentar (es), ofender (es)
• Swedish: skymfa (sv), förolämpa (sv)

to meet defiantly; confront

• Bulgarian: излизам насреща на (izlizam nasrešta na)
• Finnish: vastustaa (fi)
• French: se confronter (fr)
• Macedonian: се со́очи (se sóoči)
• Maori: whakamīrei, whakatima
• Portuguese: afrontar (pt), encarar (pt)

to meet or encounter face to face

• French: rencontrer sur le terrain, aller sur le pré
• Macedonian: се со́очи (se sóoči)
• Spanish: afrontar (es), confrontar (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Nahuatl: pinauia

Noun

affront (plural affronts)

1. An open or intentional offense, slight, or insult.

   Such behavior is an affront to society.

   • 1610, Ben Jonson, “The Alchemist”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson, London: Will Stansby, published 1616, act II, scene ii, page 620:

     This day, thou ſhalt haue ingots : and, to morrow, / Giue lords th’ affront.

2. (obsolete) A hostile encounter or meeting.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:offense

Related terms

• effrontery

Translations

open or intentional offense, slight, or insult

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: վիրավորանք (hy) (viravorankʻ)
• Bulgarian: обида (bg) (obida), оскърбление (bg) (oskǎrblenie)
• Catalan: afront (ca) m, ofensa (ca) f, greuge (ca) m
• Czech: urážka (cs) f
• Esperanto: insulto (eo)
• Estonian: solvang
• Finnish: loukkaus (fi), solvaus (fi)
• French: défi (fr) m, affront (fr) m
• Galician: axe (gl) f, afronta f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Affront (de) m
• Greek: ύβρις (el) f (ývris)
• Hungarian: sértés (hu)
• Irish: tarcaisne f
• Italian: affronto (it) m
• Latin: offensa f
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: на́вреда (mk) f (návreda)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fornærmelse m

• Polish: afront (pl), awania f (dated)
• Portuguese: afronta (pt) f
• Romanian: afront (ro) n
• Russian: оскорбле́ние (ru) n (oskorblénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: у̏вреда f

  Roman: ȕvreda (sh) f

• Spanish: afrenta (es) f, afruenta (es) f, baldón (es) m
• Swedish: skymf (sv), förolämpning (sv)
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

hostile encounter or meeting

• French: duel (fr) m, rencontre (fr) m
• Macedonian: спротивставу́вање n (sprotivstavúvanje), соочу́вање n (soočúvanje)
• Romanian: afront (ro)
• Serbo-Croatian: konfrontacija (sh), suočavanje

References

• “affront”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

French

Etymology

From Old French afront. Synchronically analysable as a deverbal from affronter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.fʁɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

affront m (plural affronts)

1. affront, insult, snub

Derived terms

• afront

Descendants

• → German: Affront
• → Polish: afront
• → Romanian: afront

Further reading

• “affront”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• offrant

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English afrounten, from Old French afronter (“to defy”), from Vulgar Latin *affrontāre (“to hit in the face”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈfrɔnt/

Verb

affront (third-person singular simple present affronts, present participle affrontin, simple past affrontit, past participle affrontit)

1. to affront; cause to feel ashamed; cause to blush; to humiliate (in front of others), to offend (not necessarily with intention).

Noun

affront (plural affronts)

1. disgrace, shame; indignity, humiliation

Derived terms

• affrontless

References

• “affront, v., n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.
• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.