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 (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌnt

Verb

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

1. 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 though 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. To meet defiantly; to confront.

   to affront death

   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), p. 436:

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

3. (obsolete) To meet or encounter face to face.
   • 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

Translations

to insult intentionally, especially openly

• Armenian: վիրավորել (hy) (viravorel)
• Bulgarian: оскърбявам (bg) (oskǎrbjavam)
• Czech: vysmívat se
• Danish: fornærme
• Dutch: belediging (nl) f
• Finnish: loukata (fi), solvata (fi), herjata (fi)
• French: défier (fr), jeter le gant (fr), envoyer un cartel
• German: beleidigen (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: sért (hu)
• Interlingue:
• Italian: insultare (it)
• Maori: muhani, muheni, whakamanioro, whakamania
• 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Interlingue:
• Maori: whakamīrei, whakatima
• Portuguese: afrontar (pt), encarar (pt)

to meet or encounter face to face

• French: rencontrer sur le terrain, aller sur le pré
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Interlingue:
• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

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

• Armenian: վիրավորանք (hy) (viravorankʻ)
• Bulgarian: обида (bg) (obida), оскърбление (bg) (oskǎrblenie)
• Catalan: afront (ca) m, ofensa (ca) f
• Esperanto: insulto (eo)
• Finnish: loukkaus (fi), solvaus (fi)
• French: défi (fr) m, affront (fr) m
• Galician: axe (gl) f, afronta f
• German: Affront (de) m
• Greek: ύβρις (el) f (ývris)
• Interlingue:
• Italian: affronto (it) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: offensa f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fornærmelse m

• Polish: afront (pl)
• 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)

hostile encounter or meeting

• French: duel (fr) m, rencontre (fr) m
• Interlingue:
• Romanian: afront (ro)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Serbo-Croatian: konfrontacija (sh), suočavanje

References

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

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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

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• offrant

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Scots

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)

References

• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.