frontier

See also: Frontier

English

Etymology

From Middle English frounter, from Old French fronter (whence Modern French frontière), from front.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɹʌnˈtɪɹ/
• IPA^(key): /fɹʌnˈtɪə/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: fron‧tier

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

frontier (plural frontiers)

1. The part of a country which borders or faces another country or unsettled region
   • 1979, Richard Elphic and Hermann Guilomee (editors), The shaping of South African Society, 1652 - 1820, page 297:

     Unlike a boundary, which evokes the image of a line on a map and demarcates spheres of political control, the frontier is an area where colonisation is taking place....no authority is recognised as legitimate by all parties or is able to excersise undisputed control over the area.

2. The most advanced or recent version of something; leading edge.

   the frontier of civilization

3. (obsolete) An outwork of a fortification.
   • (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Palisadoes, frontiers, parapets.

Synonyms

• (part of country bordering another): marches; the border

Derived terms

• cyberfrontier
• efficient frontier
• Frontier County
• frontierless
• frontiersman
• nonfrontier
• portfolio frontier

 

Translations

part of a country that fronts or faces another country or an unsettled region

• Arabic: حَدّ (ar) m (ḥadd), حُدُود m pl (ḥudūd)
• Armenian: սահման (hy) (sahman)
• Belarusian: мяжа́ f (mjažá), грані́ца f (hraníca)
• Bulgarian: граница (bg) f (granica)
• Catalan: frontera (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Gan: 國界／国界, 国界 (goet⁷ gai⁴)

  Mandarin: 邊界／边界 (zh) (biānjiè), 边界 (zh) (biānjiè), 邊疆／边疆 (zh) (biānjiāng), 边疆 (zh) (biānjiāng), 邊境／边境 (zh) (biānjìng), 边境 (zh) (biānjìng), 國境／国境 (zh) (guójìng), 国境 (zh) (guójìng), 國界／国界 (zh) (guójiè), 国界 (zh) (guójiè)

• Czech: pohraničí (cs) n, pomezí n, hranice (cs) f
• Danish: grænse (da) c, landegrænse c, grænseområde n
• Dutch: grens (nl), landgrens
• Dzongkha: མཚམས (mtshams), ཁྲ་ཡི་ན (khra yi na)
• Faroese: landamark n
• Finnish: raja (fi) (border), rajaseutu, rajamaa (fi) (areas near the border)
• French: frontière (fr) f
• German: Grenze (de) f, Landesgrenze (de) f, Staatsgrenze (de) f
• Greek: σύνορο (el) n (sýnoro)

  Ancient: ὅρος m (hóros)

• Ido: frontiero (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Indonesian: padan (id), sempadan (id)
• Italian: confine (it) f, frontiera (it) f
• Japanese: 境界 (ja) (きょうかい, kyōkai), 国境 (ja) (こっきょう, kokkyō)
• Korean: 경계 (ko) (gyeonggye), 국경 (ko) (gukgyeong)
• Latin: finis (la)
• Latvian: robeža (lv) f, pierobeža f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: landegrense m or f

  Nynorsk: landegrense f

• Occitan: frontièra (oc) f
• Polish: granica (pl)
• Portuguese: fronteira (pt) f
• Russian: грани́ца (ru) f (graníca), рубе́ж (ru) m (rubéž), окра́ина (ru) f (okráina), межа́ (ru) f (mežá), кордо́н (ru) m (kordón)
• Slovak: hranica f
• Slovene: meja (sl) f
• Spanish: frontera (es) f
• Swedish: landgräns (sv) c, gräns (sv) c
• Ukrainian: кордо́н (uk) m (kordón), грани́ця f (hranýcja), рубі́ж m (rubíž), межа́ f (mežá)

Adjective

frontier

1. Lying on the exterior part; bordering; coterminous.

   a frontier town

Translations

lying on the exterior part; bordering; coterminous

• Bulgarian: граничен (bg) (graničen)
• Catalan: fronterer (ca)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Khmer: ទល់ដែន (tol daen), ជាយដែន (jeay daen)
• Russian: приграни́чный (ru) (prigraníčnyj), окра́инный (ru) (okráinnyj)

Verb

frontier (third-person singular simple present frontiers, present participle frontiering, simple past and past participle frontiered)

1. (intransitive) To live as pioneers on frontier territory.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To place on the frontier.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)