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Affront   /əfrˈənt/   Listen
noun
Affront  n.  
1.
An encounter either friendly or hostile. (Obs.) "I walked about, admired of all, and dreaded On hostile ground, none daring my affront."
2.
Contemptuous or rude treatment which excites or justifies resentment; marked disrespect; a purposed indignity; insult. "Offering an affront to our understanding."
3.
An offense to one's self-respect; shame.
Synonyms: Affront, Insult, Outrage. An affront is a designed mark of disrespect, usually in the presence of others. An insult is a personal attack either by words or actions, designed to humiliate or degrade. An outrage is an act of extreme and violent insult or abuse. An affront piques and mortifies; an insult irritates and provokes; an outrage wounds and injures. "Captious persons construe every innocent freedom into an affront. When people are in a state of animosity, they seek opportunities of offering each other insults. Intoxication or violent passion impels men to the commission of outrages."


verb
Affront  v. t.  (past & past part. affronted; pres. part. affronting)  
1.
To front; to face in position; to meet or encounter face to face. (Obs.) "All the sea-coasts do affront the Levant." "That he, as 't were by accident, may here Affront Ophelia."
2.
To face in defiance; to confront; as, to affront death; hence, to meet in hostile encounter. (Archaic)
3.
To offend by some manifestation of disrespect; to insult to the face by demeanor or language; to treat with marked incivility. "How can any one imagine that the fathers would have dared to affront the wife of Aurelius?"
Synonyms: To insult; abuse; outrage; wound; illtreat; slight; defy; offend; provoke; pique; nettle.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Affront" Quotes from Famous Books



... something he had done, or left undone, he had grievously offended a companion, and this friend or acquaintance of his called on him one morning, and, being a hot-tempered man, charged him with the supposed offence or affront, and working himself up into a violent passion, declared that they must fight it out, and that he should send him a formal challenge. The other listened very quietly to this outburst of wrath, and then said calmly and deliberately, ...
— Amos Huntingdon • T.P. Wilson
... not fear the landlord to affront; I'd show these worthy guests this minute What kind of stuff ...
— Faust • Goethe
... thees horse, which is not—observe me—a Mexican plug! Ah, no! you can your boots bet on that. She is of Castilian stock—believe me and strike me dead! I will myself at different times overlook and affront her in the stable, examine her as to the assault, and why she should do thees thing. When she is of the exercise I will also accost and restrain her. Remain tranquil, my friend! When a few days shall pass much shall be changed, ...
— The Bell-Ringer of Angel's and Other Stories • Bret Harte
... of the men and women dressing alike, and relates that once a dozen women wearing men's clothes, well plastered with mud, entered the chapel where he was preaching, and were urged on by the men to affront him and break up ...
— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Vol. 13 - Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Lovers • Elbert Hubbard
... turned to me with that most hideous face of his, screaming aloud: "Oh, hold your tongue, you ugly . . ." [1] At these words the Duke frowned, and the others pursed their lips up and looked with knitted grows toward him. The horrible affront half maddened me with fury; but in a moment I recovered presence of mind enough to turn it off with a jest; "You madman! you exceed the bounds of decency. Yet would to God that I understood so noble an art as you allude to; they ...
— The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini • Benvenuto Cellini


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