Outfaced

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To find oneself unmasked or confronted by someone else's strengths or advantages
2. to be rendered inferior in a competitive situation
3. to meet a challenge or opposition that reveals one's shortcomings

Etymology: Outfaced combines "out," from Old English "ut," meaning beyond or away from, with "face," which entered English through Old French from Latin "facies," meaning face or appearance. Together they originally meant to stare down or overcome an opponent by a bolder show of countenance, so the sense was physical and social, rooted in the eyes and expression rather than in any hidden strength. Over time the verb came to mean brazening out a challenge or intimidating a rival until they backed down. Your definition, being exposed by another's superior qualities, is a looser extension of that core idea: the person being outfaced is the one who is outmatched in confrontation. Use of the verb in English dates to roughly the 16th century, when "outface" and its relatives were common in writing about contests of nerve and bluster. The formation itself is ordinary English, an "out-" compound built on an existing verb, so the interest lies mostly in how the physical act of meeting a stare became a measure of who had the upper hand.

Synonyms: confronted, challenged

Antonyms: retreated, avoided