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confrontation

UK/ˌkɒn.fɹənˈteɪ.ʃən/US/ˌkɑn.fɹənˈteɪ.ʃən/Australia/ˌkɔn.fɹənˈtæɪ.ʃən/

noun

What it means

  1. countableuncountableThe act of confronting or challenging another, especially face to face.

    During the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, this commitment brought him into frequent critical confrontation with entrenched forms of conservative thinking (in academic areas from history and social science to the more abstract domains of ethical and political philosophy)[…]

    1999, Nicholas Walker, “The Reorientation of Critical Theory: Habermas”, in Simon Glemdinning, editor, The Edinburgh Encyclopedia of Continental Philosophy, Routledge, →ISBN, page 489

    Synonyms: confrontal, showdown

  2. countableuncountableA conflict between armed forces.

In a sentence

During the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, this commitment brought him into frequent critical confrontation with entrenched forms of conservative thinking (in academic areas from history and social science to the more abstract domains of ethical and political philosophy)[…]

1999, Nicholas Walker, “The Reorientation of Critical Theory: Habermas”, in Simon Glemdinning, editor, The Edinburgh Encyclopedia of Continental Philosophy, Routledge, →ISBN, page 489

Where it comes from

From Middle French. Morphologically confront + -ation.

Full entry for confrontation →

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