Confronts

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Meets or deals with a problem, difficulty, or person in a direct and assertive way
2. Addresses an issue or opponent head-on without avoidance or hesitation
3. Engages with a situation or adversary openly and courageously

Etymology: "Confronts" is the third-person singular present form of "confront," so its story is really the story of the verb. The core image is literal: to confront someone was to bring them face to face, from the Latin "frontem," meaning "front" or "forehead." Medieval Latin built "cōnfrontāre" from "con-" (together) and that root, so the sense of standing forehead to forehead with a rival was there from the start. The verb reached English through Middle French "confronter," which took the word from Medieval Latin. Over time the physical sense of placing two things opposite each other faded into the sense of meeting an opponent, a problem or an unpleasant fact directly. That is why "confronts" today usually means facing up to something difficult rather than literally standing before someone.

Synonyms: faces, challenges, meets, encounters, opposes

Antonyms: avoids, escapes, ignores, shuns, evades