different between front vs ahead

English

Etymology

From Middle English front, frunt, frount, from Old French front, frunt, from Latin frons, frontem (“forehead”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f??nt/
• Rhymes: -?nt

Noun

front (countable and uncountable, plural fronts)

2. The foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves.
3. The side of a building with the main entrance.
4. A field of activity.
5. A person or institution acting as the public face of some other, covert group.

6. (meteorology) The interface or transition zone between two airmasses of different density, often resulting in precipitation. Since the temperature distribution is the most important regulator of atmospheric density, a front almost invariably separates airmasses of different temperature.

7. (military) An area where armies are engaged in conflict, especially the line of contact.
8. (military) The lateral space occupied by an element measured from the extremity of one flank to the extremity of the other flank.
9. (military) The direction of the enemy.
10. (military) When a combat situation does not exist or is not assumed, the direction toward which the command is faced.
11. (historical) A major military subdivision of the Soviet Army.
12. (dated) Cheek; boldness; impudence.
13. (informal) An act, show, façade, persona: an intentional and false impression of oneself.
14. (historical) That which covers the foremost part of the head: a front piece of false hair worn by women.
    • 1856, Elizabeth Browning, Aurora Leigh

      like any plain Miss Smith's, who wears a front

15. The most conspicuous part.

16. (obsolete) The beginning.
    • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 102

      summer's front

17. (Britain) A seafront or coastal promenade.
18. (obsolete) The forehead or brow, the part of the face above the eyes; sometimes, also, the whole face.

    • c. 1700, Matthew Prior, Seeing the Duke of Ormond's Picture at Sir Godfrey Kneller's

      His front yet threatens, and his frowns command.

19. (slang, hotels, dated) The bellhop whose turn it is to answer a client's call, which is often the word "front" used as an exclamation.
20. (slang, in the plural) A grill (jewellery worn on front teeth).

Synonyms

• fore

Antonyms

• back
• rear

Hyponyms

• (The foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves): (nautical) bow (of a ship)

Derived terms

Related terms

• affront
• effrontery

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: fran
• ? Japanese: ???? (furonto)
• ? Korean: ??? (peureonteu)

Translations

Adjective

front (comparative further front, superlative furthest front)

1. Located at or near the front.

   The front runner was thirty meters ahead of her nearest competitor.

   • 2001, Fritz Stern, Einstein's German World

     You also were in the furthest front line in order to help and learn and to study the conditions for using the gas process [Gasver-fahren] of every kind.

3. (comparable, phonetics) Pronounced with the highest part of the body of the tongue toward the front of the mouth, near the hard palate (most often describing a vowel).

Synonyms

• (located near the front): first, lead, fore

Antonyms

• (located near the front): back, last, rear
• (phonetics): back

Translations

Verb

front (third-person singular simple present fronts, present participle fronting, simple past and past participle fronted)

1. (intransitive, dated) To face (on, to); to be pointed in a given direction.

   • The great gate fronting to the north was about four feet high, and almost two feet wide, through which I could easily creep.

   • 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, 2011, p.35:

     The door fronted on a narrow run, like a footbridge over a gully, that filled the gap between the house wall and the edge of the bank.

   • 1999, George RR Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, 2011, p.312:

     They emerged atop the broad curving steps that fronted on the Street of the Sisters, near the foot of Visenya's Hill.

   • 2010, Ingrid D Rowland, "The Siege of Rome", New York Review of Books, Blog, 26 March:

     The palazzo has always fronted on a bus stop—but this putative man of the people has kindly put an end to that public service.

2. (transitive) To face, be opposite to.
   • 1749, John Cleland, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, Penguin, 1985, p.66:

     After saluting her, he led her to a couch that fronted us, where they both sat down, and the young Genoese helped her to a glass of wine, with some Naples biscuit on a salver.

   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice:

     […] down they ran into the dining-room, which fronted the lane, in quest of this wonder; it was two ladies stopping in a low phaeton at the garden gate.

   • 1913, DH Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, Penguin, 2006, p.49:

     She sat on a seat under the alders in the cricket ground, and fronted the evening.

3. (transitive) To face up to, to meet head-on, to confront.
   • 1594, Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, London: William Jones,^[1]

     Know you not Gaueston hath store of golde,

     Which may in Ireland purchase him such friends,

     As he will front the mightiest of vs all,

   • 1623, William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part 2:

     What well-appointed leader fronts us here?

4. (transitive) To adorn the front of; to put on the front.
   • 2001, Terry Goodkind, The Pillars of Creation, page 148:

     Three tiers of balconies fronted with roped columns supporting arched openings looked down on the marble hall.

5. (phonetics, transitive, intransitive) To pronounce with the tongue in a front position.
   • 2005, Paul Skandera / Peter Burleigh, A Manual of English Phonetics and Phonology, page 48:

     The velar plosives are often fronted through the influence of a following front vowel, and retracted through the influence of a following back vowel.

7. (linguistics, transitive) To move (a word or clause) to the start of a sentence (or series of adjectives, etc).
   • 2001, Arthur J. Holmer, Jan-Olof Svantesson, Åke Viberg, Proceedings of the 18th Scandinavian Conference of Linguistics

     […] in the clause, only the adjective may be fronted; but if both a past participle and a verbal particle are present, either may be fronted. Topicalization, in which maximal projections are fronted to express pragmatics such as contrast, emphasis, ...

   • 2010, George Melville Bolling, Bernard Bloch, Language

     A problem facing any syntactic analysis of hyperbaton is that nonconstituent strings are fronted […] In cases where the adjective is fronted with the determiner, the determiner is not doubled […]

8. (intransitive, slang) To act as a front (for); to cover (for).
   • 2007, Harold Robbins, A Stone for Danny Fisher, page 183:

     Everybody knew Skopas fronted for the fight mob even though he was officially the arena manager.

9. (transitive) To lead or be the spokesperson of (a campaign, organisation etc.).
   • 2009 September 1, Mark Sweney, The Guardian:

     Ray Winstone is fronting a campaign for the Football Association that aims to stop pushy parents shouting abuse at their children during the grassroots football season.

10. (transitive, colloquial) To provide money or financial assistance in advance to.
    • 2004, Danielle Steele, Ransom, p.104:

      I'm prepared to say that I fronted you the money for a business deal with me, and the investment paid off brilliantly.

11. (intransitive, slang) To assume false or disingenuous appearances.

    Synonyms: put on airs, feign

    • 2008, Briscoe/Akinyemi, ‘Womanizer’:

      Boy don't try to front, / I-I know just-just what you are, are-are.

    • 2008 Markus Naerheim, The City, p.531

      You know damned straight what this is about, or you ain't as smart as you been frontin'.

12. (transitive) To deceive or attempt to deceive someone with false or disingenuous appearances (on).
13. (transitive) To appear before.

Translations

See also

• front vowel

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Occitan front, from Latin frontem, accusative singular of fr?ns, from Proto-Indo-European *b?ron-t-, from *b?ren- (“project”).

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?f?ont/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /?f?on/

Noun

front m (plural fronts)

1. front
2. forehead

Derived terms

• fer front

Related terms

• afrontar
• fronter

Further reading

• “front” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “front” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “front” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “front” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Czech

Noun

front m

1. front (subdivision of the Soviet army)

Dutch

Etymology

From Old French front (noun), fronter (verb), from Latin frons (“forehead”).

Pronunciation

Noun

front n (plural fronten, diminutive frontje n)

1. front

Derived terms

• thuisfront

French

Etymology

From Old French front, from Latin frontem, accusative singular of fr?ns, from Proto-Indo-European *b?ron-t-, from *b?ren- (“project”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f???/
• Homophones: ferons, feront

Noun

front m (plural fronts)

1. forehead
2. (military) front, frontline

Derived terms

Related terms

• frontal

Descendants

• ? Bulgarian: ????? (front)
• ? Czech: front, fronta
• ? German: Front
  • ? Hungarian: front
  • ? Russian: ????? (front)
    • ? Bashkir: ????? (front)
• ? Irish: fronta
• ? Macedonian: ????? (front)
• ? Norwegian: front
• ? Polish: front
• ? Portuguese: front
• ? Serbo-Croatian:

  Latin: fr?nt, frònta

  Cyrillic: ??????

• ? Swedish: front

See also

• sinciput

Further reading

• “front” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin frontem, accusative singular of fr?ns.

Noun

front m (plural fronts)

1. (anatomy) forehead

Hungarian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Front, from French fronte, from Latin frons, frontis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?front]
• Hyphenation: front
• Rhymes: -ont

Noun

front (plural frontok)

1. (military) front (an area where armies are engaged in conflict)
2. (military) a unit composed of several, normally three, army groups, cf. German Front, [2a]
3. (meteorology) front (the interface or transition zone between two airmasses of different density)
4. (architecture) front, face (the side of a building with the main entrance)

Declension

Coordinate terms

• (military units) ?rs/t?zcsoport < raj < szakasz < század < zászlóalj < ezred < dandár < hadosztály < hadtest < hadsereg < hadseregcsoport < front

References

Middle English

Noun

front

1. Alternative form of frount

Norman

Etymology

From Old French front, from Latin fr?ns, frontem.

Noun

front m (plural fronts)

1. (military) front

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from French front.

Noun

front m (definite singular fronten, indefinite plural fronter, definite plural frontene)

1. front

Synonyms

• forside, framside, fremside

Derived terms

• frontkollisjon
• frontrute
• kaldfront
• sjøfront

References

• “front” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from French front.

Noun

front m (definite singular fronten, indefinite plural frontar, definite plural frontane)

1. front

Synonyms

• framside

Derived terms

• frontkollisjon
• frontrute
• kaldfront
• sjøfront

References

• “front” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old French

Etymology

From Latin fr?ns, frontem.

Noun

front m (oblique plural fronz or frontz, nominative singular fronz or frontz, nominative plural front)

1. forehead
2. (military) front

Descendants

• French: front (see there for further descendants)
• Norman: front
• ? Dutch: front
• ? Middle English: frount, frunt, front, frownt, frunte, fronte, frownte, frounte, ffrount, ffront, frountte
  • English: front
    • Tok Pisin: fran
    • ? Japanese: ???? (furonto)
    • ? Korean: ??? (peureonteu)
  • Scots: front

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• frònta (Croatia)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /frônt/

Noun

fr?nt m (Cyrillic spelling ??????)

1. (military) front

Declension

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

front c

1. The front end or side of something.

   Bilen hade fått en ful buckla på fronten.

   "There was an ugly bump on the front of the car."

2. front - the area were two armies are fighting each other.

   På västfronten intet nytt (All Quiet on the Western Front, book by Erich Maria Remarque)

3. front - area were hot and cold air meet
4. front - one aspect of a larger undertaking which is temporarily seen as a separate undertaking in order to evaluate its progress in relationship to the whole.

Declension

Derived terms

• västfront
• östfront
• kallfront
• varmfront

Anagrams

• fornt

English

Etymology

a- +? head

(nautical) Beyond the head (of a ship). This may have drifted into more general English usage where it is used to describe something as being 'in front of'.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??h?d/
• Rhymes: -?d
• Hyphenation: ahead

Adverb

ahead (not comparable)

1. In or to the front; in advance; onward.

2. In the direction one is facing or moving.

3. In or for the future.

4. At an earlier time.

5. Having progressed more.

Antonyms

• (nautical) astern
• behind

Hyponyms

• straight ahead

Derived terms

• ahead of time
• go-ahead

Related terms

• ahead of

Translations

Anagrams

• aahed