Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To come face to face with, especially with defiance or hostility.
  • intransitive verb To bring face to face with.
  • intransitive verb To come up against; encounter.
  • intransitive verb To engage in confrontation.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To stand facing; be in front of; face.
  • To stand in direct opposition to; meet in hostility; oppose; challenge.
  • To set face to face; bring into the presence of, as for proof or verification: followed by with: as, the accused was confronted with the witness, or with the body of his victim.
  • To set together for comparison; bring into contrast: with with.
  • noun Opposition; an opposing.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To stand facing or in front of; to face; esp. to face hostilely; to oppose with firmness.
  • transitive verb To put face to face; to cause to face or to meet.
  • transitive verb To set in opposition for examination; to put in contrast; to compare.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To stand or meet facing, especially in competition, hostility or defiance; to come face to face with; to oppose; to challenge.
  • verb transitive To deal with.
  • verb transitive To something bring face to face with.
  • verb transitive To come up against; to encounter.
  • verb intransitive To engage in confrontation.
  • verb transitive To set a thing side by side with; to compare.
  • verb transitive To put a thing facing to; to set in contrast to.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb oppose, as in hostility or a competition
  • verb present somebody with something, usually to accuse or criticize
  • verb be face to face with
  • verb deal with (something unpleasant) head on

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French confronter, from Old French, to adjoin, from Medieval Latin cōnfrontāre : Latin com-, com- + Latin frōns, front-, front.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French confronter, from Medieval Latin confrontare, from con- + frons ("forehead”, “front")

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