Confronting

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To directly face an individual or thing while challenging, opposing, or addressing a specific issue or situation with courage and determination
2. To encounter an individual or entity head-on while boldly opposing or addressing a significant issue or circumstance with resolve and bravery
3. Acting with courage to tackle a problem or difficulty ; standing directly before a person or obstacle in an assertive way

Etymology: "Confronting" is the present participle of "confront," and the verb's core image is literal: two people standing face to face. It comes from Medieval Latin "cōnfrontāre," built from "con-" meaning "together" and "frontem," meaning "front" or "forehead." The root sense was to bring something face to face with something else, and that physical meaning is still visible in the way the word's stress falls on the front of an opposing person or object. The word passed into English through Middle French "confronter," which carried the same notion of setting two things opposite one another. Early English uses focused on placing a witness or accused person in the presence of another, so that they could be compared or challenged directly. Over time the sense moved from arranging people physically to meeting them in opposition, and from there to facing up to difficulties, a problem, or a wrongdoer.

Synonyms: facing, challenging, meeting, addressing, tackling

Antonyms: avoiding, shunning, ignoring, evading, ducking