effrontery

English

Etymology

From late 17th century French effronterie, from effronté (“shameless, insolent”), from Old French esfronté, from Vulgar Latin *exfrontātus, from Latin exfrōns (“barefaced”), from the prefix ex- (“from”) + frōns (“forehead”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪˈfɹʌntəɹi/, /ɛˈfɹʌntəɹi/

Noun

effrontery (countable and uncountable; plural effronteries)

1. (uncountable) Insolent and shameless audacity.

   We even had the effrontery to suggest that he should leave the country.

2. (countable) An act of insolent and shameless audacity.

   Any refusal to salute the president shall be counted as an effrontery.

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.

Translations

insolent and shameless audacity

• Armenian: անամոթություն (hy) (anamotʿutʿyun), լկտիություն (hy) (lktiutʿyun), անպատկառություն (hy) (anpatkaṙutʿyum), լրբություն (hy) (lrbutʿyun)
• Bulgarian: нахалство (bg) (naxálstvo) n, безочливост (bg) (bezočlivost) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 厚顏無恥 (cmn), 厚颜无耻 (cmn) (hòuyánwúchǐ)

• French: effronterie (fr) f
• German: Dreistigkeit (de), Frechheit (de) f, Unverschämtheit (de) f
• Hungarian: arcátlanság (hu)
• Irish: neamhnáire (ga) f

• Italian: sfrontatezza (it)
• Japanese: 厚顔無恥 (ja) (こうがんむち, kōganmuchi)
• Korean: 뻔뻔스러움 (ko) (ppeonppeonseureoum)
• Portuguese: descaramento (pt) m, acinte (pt) m, desfaçatez (pt) f
• Romanian: sfruntare (ro) f, nerușinare (ro) f, insolență (ro) f
• Russian: бесстыдство (ru) (besstýdstvo) n, наглость (ru) (náglostʹ) f, нахальство (ru) (naxálʹstvo) n, беззастенчивость (ru) (bezzasténčivostʹ) f
• Spanish: desfachatez (es) f

References

• 2005, Ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson, The Oxford Dictionary of English (2nd edition revised), Oxford University Press, ISBN 0198610572
• 1996, T.F. Hoad, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Etymology, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0192830988
• “Effrontery, n.” in OED Online, Oxford University Press, 1989.