front

Noun

front (countable and uncountable, plural fronts)

1. The foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves.
2. The side of a building with the main entrance.
   • I'll go out the front, and you go out the back.
   • Flowering plants cascaded down the fronts of the buildings.
3. A field of activity.
   • 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.2012 January, Stephen Ledoux, “Behaviorism at 100”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 60
4. A person or institution acting as the public face of some other, covert group.
   • Near-synonyms: frontperson, frontman, front man
   • Officially it's a dry-cleaning shop, but everyone knows it's a front for the mafia.

   Synonyms:

   frontperson, frontman, front man

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.
   • 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. An area where armies are engaged in conflict, especially the line of contact.
7. The lateral space occupied by an element measured from the extremity of one flank to the extremity of the other flank.
8. The direction of the enemy.
9. When a combat situation does not exist or is not assumed, the direction toward which the command is faced.
10. (historical) A major military subdivision of the Soviet Army.
11. (dated) Cheek; boldness; impudence.
12. (dated, euphemistic, in plural) A woman's breast.
    • […] there was one bare breast sticking out, the tip of it disappearing into Enid's father's mouth. She had told her mother about this in perfect certainty that she had seen it. She said, "One of her fronts was stuck in Daddy's mouth."1998, Alice Munro, The Love of a Good Woman, page 74
    • She thought—imagined, really—that her, well, that her fronts were too big. She grew up, you see, in the flapper era, when it was fashionable for women to have very flat fronts.2015, Stephen Birmingham, The Wrong Kind of Money

Adjective

front (comparative further front or farther front, superlative furthest front or farthest front)

1. Located at or near the front.
   • The front runner was thirty meters ahead of her nearest competitor.

   Synonyms:

   forward, first, lead, fore

2. (comparable) 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).
   • The English word dress has a front vowel in most dialects.
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.1995, Ignacio Mas, Jesús Saá-Requejo, Using Financial Futures in Trading and Risk Management, World Bank Publications, page 11
   • 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[…]2000, The Handbook of World Stock, Derivative & Commodity Exchanges

   Synonyms:

   prompt

   Antonyms:

   back

Verb

front (third-person singular simple present fronts, present participle fronting, simple past and past participle fronted)

1. (dated, intransitive) To face (on, to); to be pointed in a given direction.
   • The great gate fronting to the north was about four feet high, and almost two feet wide, through which I could easily creep.1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput)
   • The door fronted on a narrow run, like a footbridge over a gully, that filled the gap between the house wall and the edge of the bank.1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 35
2. (transitive) To face, be opposite to.
   • 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.1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC
   • […]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.1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC
3. (transitive) To face up to, to meet head-on, to confront.
   • 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,1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC...
   • What well-appointed leader fronts us here?c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
4. (transitive) To adorn with, at the front; to put on the front.
   • Three tiers of balconies fronted with roped columns supporting arched openings looked down on the marble hall.2001, Terry Goodkind, The Pillars of Creation, page 148
5. (intransitive, transitive) To pronounce with the tongue in a front position.
   • The velar plosives are often fronted through the influence of a following front vowel, and retracted through the influence of a following back vowel.2005, Paul Skandera, Peter Burleigh, A Manual of English Phonetics and Phonology, page 48
   • Finally, the pretonic -e- of this *tsengòrra would have been fronted, yielding *tsingòrra.2025, Cid Swanenvleugel, The Pre-Roman Elements of the Sardinian Lexicon, page 214
6. (transitive) To move (a word or clause) to the start of a sentence (or series of adjectives, etc).
   • […] in the clause, only the adjective may be fronted; but if both a past participle and a verbal particle are present, either may be fronted. Topicalization, in which maximal projections are fronted to express pragmatics such as contrast, emphasis, ...2001, Arthur J. Holmer, Jan-Olof Svantesson, Åke Viberg, Proceedings of the 18th Scandinavian Conference of Linguistics
   • 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 […]2010, George Melville Bolling, Bernard Bloch, Language
7. (intransitive, slang) To act as a front (for); to cover (for).
   • Everybody knew Skopas fronted for the fight mob even though he was officially the arena manager.2007, Harold Robbins, A Stone for Danny Fisher, page 183
8. (transitive) To lead or be the spokesperson of (a campaign, organisation etc.).
   • 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.2009 September 1, Mark Sweney, The Guardian
9. (ambitransitive, multiplicity) 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.
   • 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.2018, Eric Yarbrough, Transgender Mental Health, page 160
10. (colloquial, transitive) To provide money or financial assistance in advance to.
    • I'm prepared to say that I fronted you the money for a business deal with me, and the investment paid off brilliantly.2004, Danielle Steele, Ransom, page 104
11. (intransitive, slang) To assume false or disingenuous appearances.
    • So when I tell people where I'm from and check their reactions, I know in my heart I'm just frontin’. Because the way and where I lived then pales when compared to the way and where many youths are living today.1993 November 19, Bobby Hill, “Mad Real”, in Washington City Paper, archived from the original on 05 Feb 2013
    • What's with these homies dissin' my girl? / Why do they gotta front?1994, Rivers Cuomo, “Buddy Holly”, performed by Weezer

    Synonyms:

    put on airs, feign

12. (slang, transitive) To deceive or attempt to deceive someone with false or disingenuous appearances (on).
    • You think that you can front when revelation comes? / You can't front on that1992, “So What'cha Want”, performed by The Beastie Boys
13. (transitive) To appear before.
    • to front court
14. (intransitive, slang, transitive, African-American Vernacular) To act cocky, disrespectful and aggressive; to confront (someone).

Interjection

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 507.1948, Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, Cheaper by the Dozen
   • Harshaw yelled “Front!” again and Miriam started toward him.1961, Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land