frontfire

English

Etymology

front +‎ fire, coined as an opposite for backfire (and not usually seen without it).

Verb

frontfire (third-person singular simple present frontfires, present participle frontfiring, simple past and past participle frontfired)

1. To have the intended effect.
   • 2002 August 18, Liam Griffin, “For the championship’s sake, it must be Tipp”, in Sunday Tribune (Dublin, Ireland):

     Talking of backfire, frontfire or whatever, John Carroll can give it both barrels, and simultaneously.

   • 2003, Douglas Coupland, Hey Nostradamus!, →ISBN:

     I want to discuss that false psychic you paid to bring Heather messages from the dead. It was a thoughtful idea, but one that backfired and then, ultimately, in its own way, frontfired, giving Heather more hope than you’d imagine.

   • 2010, Steve Pavlina, Personal Development for Smart People, →ISBN, page vi:

     I realized that speaking up now might backfire on me later, but there was a slim chance it could frontfire, too.

Anagrams

• firefront