head-on

See also: Headon and head on

English

Alternative forms

• head on

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

head-on (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) Direct, abrupt, blunt or unequivocal; not prevaricating.

   a head-on approach to a problem

   • 2000 [1995], François Jullien, “Preface”, in Sophie Hawkes, transl., Detour and Access: Strategies of Meaning in China and Greece [Le Détour et l'accès: Stratégies du sens en Chine, en Grèce]‎^[1], New York: Zone Books, published 2004, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 7:

     In what way do we benefit from speaking of things indirectly? How does such a distancing allow us to better discover - and describe - people and objects? How does distancing produce an effect? Westerners find it natural and normal to meet the world head-on. But what can we gain from approaching the world obliquely?

2. Of a collision, from the front or in the direction of motion.

   Getting into a head-on collision is dangerous.

   • 2021 February 24, Greg Morse, “Great Heck: a tragic chain of events”, in RAIL, number 925, page 39:

     This secondary collision, head-on with a closing speed of 142mph, caused the DVT to veer off to the left. Many of the coaches behind it overturned and careered into an adjacent field.

Usage notes

• The adjective is also head on, especially when appearing after the verb, and thus an adverb, as in:

  She likes to tackle problems head on.

Derived terms

• head-on collision

Translations

direct, abrupt

• Finnish: suoraviivainen (fi), suorasukainen (fi)
• Italian: di petto
• Russian: прямолине́йный (ru) (prjamolinéjnyj)

from the front

• Bulgarian: челен (bg) (čelen), фронтален (bg) (frontalen)
• Finnish: nokka- (fi) (see nokkakolari)
• French: frontal (fr)
• Galician: frontal (gl) m or f
• German: frontal (de)
• Hungarian: frontális (hu)
• Italian: frontale (it), di petto
• Portuguese: frontal (pt)
• Russian: лобово́й (ru) (lobovój)
• Spanish: frontal (es)

Adverb

head-on (not comparable)

1. With the front of a vehicle.
   • 2015, Duncan Bruce, Tanker Jetty Safety – Management of the Ship/Shore Interface (1st 2015 ed; second ed. January 2022)‎^[2], 1st edition, Witherby Seamanship International, →ISBN, 3.1.2:

     Wave direction and frequency (period) are two factors that influence the effect of waves on a moored ship. Whether the ship responds by surging, swaying or yawing will depend on whether the waves are striking the moored vessel head-on, beam-on or quartering, the frequency of the waves and the manner in which the tanker is moored.

2. With direct confrontation.
   • 1961 January, “Talking of Trains: Flooding at Lewes”, in Trains Illustrated, page 5:

     During the day conditions worsened quickly—for example, a 2-6-0 on the Uckfield line suddenly encountered flood water high enough to enter its ashpan and extinguish its fire—until lock gates up-river at Barcombe gave way and a tidal wave rolled down the valley meeting head-on a spring tide rolling up from the coast.

   • 2022 October 13, Gina Kolata, “‘Kind of Awkward’: Doctors Find Themselves on a First-Name Basis”, in The New York Times‎^[3]:

     And there is little research to address the issue head on. A previous study, published in 2000, surveyed doctors and found that three quarters of them said some patients addressed them by their first name.

Noun

head-on (plural head-ons)

1. A collision from the front.

   He was injured in a head-on with a larger vehicle.

Translations

collision from the front — see head-on collision

References

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