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The Middle English "afronten," the ancestor of the Modern English verb "affront," was borrowed from the Anglo-French afrunter, a verb which means "to defy" but which also has the specific meaning "to strike on the forehead" or "to slap on the face." These more literal senses reveal the word's Latin origins, a combination of the Latin prefix ad-, meaning "to" or "towards," and "front-, frons," which means "forehead" (and which is also the source of the English word front). While the striking or slapping sense of "afrunter" was not adopted by English, it is alluded to in the oldest uses of "afronten" in Middle English in the sense of "to insult especially to the face."
Synonyms
Examples of affront in a Sentence
Charles Duhigg, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024
She’s known to personally reach out to attendees who have felt affronted by her material.
—Anna Tingley, Variety, 16 Aug. 2024
Natasha Degen, Artforum, 1 Nov. 2024
That could create a top marginal rate of 44.6 percent (close to half of every marginal dollar, an affront to fairness), and, again, that’s before state taxes.
—The Editors, National Review, 3 Sep. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near affront
Cite this Entry
“Affront.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/affront. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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