front (fronts plural & 3rd person present) (fronting present participle) (fronted past tense & past participle )
1 n-count Thefrontof something is the part of it that faces you, or that faces forward, or that you normally see or use.
usu sing, oft the N of n (Antonym: back)
One man sat in an armchair, and the other sat on the front of the desk..., Stand at the front of the line..., Her cotton dress had ripped down the front.
2 n-count Thefrontof a building is the side or part of it that faces the street.
usu sing, oft the N of n
Attached to the front of the house, there was a large veranda.
3 n-sing A person's or animal's front is the part of their body between their head and their legs that is on the opposite side to their back.
poss N (Antonym: back)
If you lie your baby on his front, he'll lift his head and chest up.
4 adj Front is used to refer to the side or part of something that is towards the front or nearest to the front.
ADJ n (Antonym: back)
I went out there on the front porch..., She was only six and still missing her front teeth..., Children may be tempted to climb into the front seat while the car is in motion.
5 adj The front page of a newspaper is the outside of the first page, where the main news stories are printed.
ADJ n
The Guardian's front page carries a photograph of the two foreign ministers..., The violence in the Gaza Strip makes the front page of most of the newspapers.
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front-page
6 n-sing The front is a road next to the sea in a seaside town.
(BRIT) the N
(=promenade)
Amy went out for a last walk along the sea front.
7 n-count In a war, the front is a line where two opposing armies are facing each other.
usu the N in sing
Sonja's husband is fighting at the front.
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front line
8 n-count If you say that something is happening on a particular front, you mean that it is happening with regard to a particular situation or field of activity.
We're moving forward on a variety of fronts.
9 n-count If someone puts on a particular kind of front, they pretend to have a particular quality.
usu adj N
Michael kept up a brave front both to the world and in his home...
10 n-count An organization or activity that is afrontfor one that is illegal or secret is used to hide it.
usu N for n
(=cover)
...a firm later identified by the police as a front for crime syndicates...
11 n-count In relation to the weather, a front is a line where a mass of cold air meets a mass of warm air.
A very active cold front brought dramatic weather changes to Kansas on Wednesday.
12 verb A building or an area of land that fronts a particular place or frontsonto it is next to it and faces it.
(=face)
...real estate, which includes undeveloped land fronting the city convention center... V n
There are some delightful Victorian houses fronting onto the pavement. V onto n
...quaint cottages fronted by lawns and flowerbeds. V-ed
13 verb The person who fronts an organization is the most senior person in it.
(BRIT)
(=head)
He fronted a formidable band of fighters... V n
The commission, fronted by Sir Isaac Hayatali, was set up in June 1992. V-ed
in AM, use head
14 If a person or thing is in front, they are ahead of others in a moving group, or further forward than someone or something else.
in front phrase
Officers will crack down on lunatic motorists who speed or drive too close to the car in front..., `What's with this guy?' demanded an American voice in the row in front.
15 Someone who is in front in a competition or contest at a particular point is winning at that point.
in front phrase PHR after v, v-link PHR
(=leading)
Richard Dunwoody is in front in the jockeys' title race..., Some preliminary polls show him out in front.
16 If someone or something is in front of a particular thing, they are facing it, ahead of it, or close to the front part of it.
in front of prep-phrase
She sat down in front of her dressing-table mirror to look at herself..., Something darted out in front of my car, and my car hit it..., A police car was parked in front of the house.
17 If you do or say something in front of someone else, you do or say it when they are present.
in front of prep-phrase
They never argued in front of their children..., He has been brought up not to swear in front of women.
18 On the home front or on the domestic front means with regard to your own country rather than foreign countries. (JOURNALISM)
on the home front/on the domestic front phrase PHR with cl Its present economic ills on the home front are largely the result of overspending..., On the domestic front, the president got his way with his budget proposals.
front bench (front benches plural )In Britain, thefront bench or people who sit on thefront bench are members of Parliament who are ministers in the Government or who hold official positions in an opposition party. n-count-coll
Some of the Government front bench still believe our relationship with the US is paramount...
front burner
If an issue is on thefront burner, it receives a lot of attention because it is considered to be more urgent or important than other issues. n-sing usu on the N (Antonym: back burner)
It helps to put an important issue back on the front burner...
front door (front doors plural )The front door of a house or other building is the main door, which is usually in the wall that faces a street. n-count
front line (front lines plural ), front-line
1 n-count Thefront line is the place where two opposing armies are facing each other and where fighting is going on.
usu the N
...a massive concentration of soldiers on the front line.
2 adj A front line state shares a border with a country that it is at war with or is in conflict with.
ADJ n
...the front-line states bordering South Africa.
3 Someone who is in the front line has to play a very important part in defending or achieving something.
in the front line phrase v-link PHR, PHR after v
Information officers are in the front line of putting across government policies.
front man (front men plural )If you say that someone is a front man for a group or organization, you mean that their role is to represent and give a good impression of it to the public, especially when it is not very respectable or popular. n-count oft N for n (disapproval)
Tremaine is the company's front man in Washington.
front-page
A front-page article or picture appears on the front page of a newspaper because it is very important or interesting. adj ADJ n
...a front-page article in last week's paper.
front-runner (front-runners plural )In a competition or contest, the front-runner is the person who seems most likely to win it. n-count
(=favourite)
Neither of the front-runners in the presidential election is a mainstream politician.
shop front (shop fronts plural ), shopfront A shop front is the outside part of a shop which faces the street, including the door and windows.
(BRIT) n-count
in AM, use storefront
up front , up-front, upfront
1 adj If you are up frontabout something, you act openly or publicly so that people know what you are doing or what you believe.
INFORMAL usu v-link ADJ
(=open)
You can't help being biased so you may as well be up front about it..., They tended to have a much more up-front attitude.
2 adv If a payment is made up front, it is made in advance and openly, so that the person being paid can see that the money is there.
ADV after v
For the first time the government's actually put some money up front..., Some companies charge a fee up front, but we don't think that's right.
Up front is also an adjective., adj ADJ n
The eleven percent loan has no up-front costs., ...up-front charges.
