affront

present singular third person affronts · participle present affronting · participle past affronted · past affronted

1. transitiveTo insult intentionally, especially openly.

   1 more example

   But beſides, that ſuch a thought was inconſiſtent with the gravity of a Senate, how can one imagine that the Fathers would have dared affront the Wife of Aurelius, and the Mother of Commodus, or that they could think of giving offence to an Empreſs whom they afterwards Defied, and to an Emperor that was the darling of the army and people?

   1701–03, Joseph Addison, “The Isle of Caprea”, in Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c., published 1721, page 92

2. transitiveTo be an affront to; offend.

   European fear and contempt for the American Indian, Allen contends, largely came about because the sexual, economic, and political ways of the woman-centered tribes affronted their own patriarchal assumptions.

   1986 February 15, Patricia Clark Smith, “A Fresh Wind in the Museum: The Sacred Hoop”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 39, page B7

3. transitiveTo meet defiantly; to confront.

   to affront death

   1 more example

   Avignon was beginning to settle down for the night – that long painful stretch of time which must somehow be affronted.

   1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 436

4. obsoletetransitiveTo meet or encounter face to face.

   Sweet Gertrude leaue vs too, / For we haue cloſely ſent for Hamlet hither, / That he, as ’twere by accident, may there / Affront Ophelia.

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 265, column 1

   1 more example

   Many Iſlands there lie all over that ſea : but one above the reſt, and moſt renowned, is Tazata : for thither all the ſhipping from out of the Caſpian ſea and the Scythian Ocean, doe bend their courſe and there arrive : for that all the ſea coaſts doe affront the Levant, and turne into the Eaſt.

   1601, Pliny the Elder, translated by Philemon Holland, The History of the World, volume I, translation of Naturalis Historia (in Classical Latin), published 1634, book VI, page 124

plural affronts

1. An open or intentional offense, slight, or insult.

   Such behavior is an affront to society.

   1 more example

   This day, thou ſhalt haue ingots : and, to morrow, / Giue lords th’ affront.

   1610, Ben Jonson, “The Alchemist”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson, London: Will Stansby, published 1616, act II, scene ii, page 620

   Antonyms: honor, tribute

2. obsoleteA hostile encounter or meeting.