affront

[ uh-fruhnt ]

noun

1. a personally offensive act or word; deliberate act or display of disrespect; intentional slight; insult:

   an affront to the king.

   Synonyms: outrage, abuse, indignity, scorn, contumely, impertinence

2. an offense to one's dignity or self-respect.

verb (used with object)

1. to offend by an open manifestation of disrespect or insolence:

   His speech affronted all of us.

   Synonyms: abuse, slight, insult

2. to make ashamed or confused; embarrass.
3. Archaic. to front; face; look on.
4. Obsolete. to meet or encounter face to face; confront.

affront

/ əˈfrʌnt /

noun

1. a deliberate insult

verb

1. to insult, esp openly
2. to offend the pride or dignity of
3. obsolete.
   to confront defiantly

Other Words From

• af·fronted·ly adverb
• af·fronted·ness noun
• af·fronter noun
• af·fronting·ly adverb
• reaf·front noun verb (used with object)
• unaf·fronted adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of affront¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English afrounten, from Middle French af(f)ronter “to strike in the face,” from unattested Vulgar Latin affrontāre, derivative of Latin phrase ad frontem “at or toward the forehead” (as the seat of one's feelings or dignity). See ad-, front

Word History and Origins

Origin of affront¹

C14: from Old French afronter to strike in the face, from Vulgar Latin affrontāre (unattested), from the Latin phrase ad frontem to the face

Synonym Study

See insult.

Example Sentences

The Taliban’s unambiguous and brutal oppression of women was an affront to this emphasis.

From Washington Post

His dealer is a wanna-be slickster who shows up at Rob’s door in a yellow Camaro, his Gucci buckle glinting obviously in the sunlight, an affront to all that is decent and good.

From Time

“Apple’s recent announcement continues its affront on publishers and the free Internet, under the guise of consumer privacy,” said Aaron McKee, chief technology officer at mobile ad tech vendor Blis.

From Digiday

The attention economy has lavishly rewarded the Sussexes for talking publicly at great length and in granular detail about their resentment, anger and irritation with the royal family for the many sleights, insults and affronts delivered to them.

From The Daily Beast

To them, the statues were erected to intimidate and threaten, and their continued existence is an affront to freedom and justice.

From Washington Post

He seems peeved that she's gotten old, as if it were a personal affront.

From The Daily Beast

Historically, conservatives treated the minimum wage as an affront to free labor and a step on a slippery slope towards statism.

From The Daily Beast

The reality-based community might have a difficult time fending off these two fronts of affront.

From The Daily Beast

This week, Trierweiler, 49, matches that public affront with a statement of her own—in 320 unforgiving pages.

From The Daily Beast

What had been shrugged off in, say, California, was greeted in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Ohio, and Michigan as an affront.

From The Daily Beast

Not suspecting her motive, he represented the hazard of putting so great an affront on the favourite of the Empress.

From Project Gutenberg

I opposed this, fearing, of course, that the French and even the Gentiles might interpret this as an affront to our faith.

From Project Gutenberg

The vote which required the King to discard them merely because they were what he himself was seemed to him a personal affront.

From Project Gutenberg

He was even ready to swallow such an affront as that, thinking it might be offered him under a misconception of his meaning.

From Project Gutenberg

That the very novelty of the venture will pass as an affront to some portion of his readers there is only reason to anticipate.

From Project Gutenberg