I. əˈfrənt, aˈ- transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English afronten, afrounten, from Middle French afronter, affronter, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin affrontare, from Latin ad- + front-, frons forehead — more at front
1.
a. : to insult especially to the face by behavior or language
those who now smile upon and embrace would affront and stab each other if manners did not interpose — Earl of Chesterfield
b. : to offend especially by showing disrespect
the prince affronted his father by embarking on a love affair — Geoffrey Bruun
2.
a. : to face in defiance : confront
affront death
b. archaic : to meet in hostile encounter
c. obsolete : to meet or encounter face to face
3. : to appear directly before
the still fresh scar on the hillside which affronts the traveler's eye — Norman Douglas
4. archaic : to front upon : border upon
Synonyms: see offend
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle French, back-formation from affronter
1.
a. : a deliberately offensive act or utterance
in this heat every extra gesture was an affront to the common store of life — Scott Fitzgerald
b. : an offense to one's self-respect
for the Greeks, the Roman Empire was a necessity of life and at the same time an intolerable affront — A.J.Toynbee
2. obsolete : a hostile encounter
Synonyms:
insult , indignity : affront is a deliberate indication of disrespect calculated to offend
an old affront will stir the heart through years of rankling pain — Jean Ingelow
my determination to break this educational lockstep was an affront to their pride as schoolmasters — Sidney Lovett
insult refers to a personal attack intended to rankle and humiliate
the insults offered to the Federal troops by the women of New Orleans — W.C.Ford
he suffered the greatest insult ever offered to a man in the House of Commons: when he entered with the Liberal party, the Conservatives rose to a man and left the House — O.S.J.Gogarty
indignity indicates an outrageous or contemptuous offense to one's personal dignity
that after all which had passed he should be compelled to accept his pardon at Caesar's hands was an indignity to which he could not submit — J.A.Froude
to nearly all men serfdom was, without qualification, a degrading thing, and they found trenchant phrases to describe the indignity of the condition — R.W.Southern