Affronter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. To meet challenges or adversaries head-on with courage and determination
2. To face someone or something directly in a way that shows courage and defiance
3. To approach a situation or person openly and with readiness to challenge

Etymology: Before "affront" meant an insult, it meant to confront someone face to face. The word came into English from Old French "afronter," which was built on the Latin "frons," meaning "forehead." Its literal sense was to come at someone brow to brow, and the idea of confrontation came first. The ending is the ordinary English suffix "-er," which descends from Latin "-arius" by way of Old French "-ier" and Old English "-ere." Attached to "affront," it gives a word for a person who takes on that kind of face-to-face confrontation, which is close to the original sense of "affront" itself.

Synonyms: challenger, opponent, adversary