Outfaces

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To face or confront someone or something with confidence and successfully overcome the challenge
2. To boldly meet an opponent or difficulty and prevail in the encounter
3. To challenge directly with courage and outdo in a confrontation

Etymology: The verb "outfaces" is simply the third-person singular form of "outface," so its story is really the story of that verb. "Outface" is a compound of "out" and "face," and the "out" carries the sense of surpassing or overcoming. To outface someone is to beat them in a contest of boldness, staring them down until they back away. "Face" comes from Old French "face," which descended from Late Latin "facia," a word for the face or visage. That Late Latin noun was in turn tied to the Latin "facies," meaning appearance or form, from the verb "facere," to make or do. So the English noun has long carried the idea of a face as something presented or shown to the world. Pairing "out" with "face" produced a verb meaning to confront and outdo an opponent through sheer demeanour. Its meaning therefore grew from the physical act of facing someone to a figurative contest of nerve.

Synonyms: confronts, defies, challenges, faces, opposes

Antonyms: submits, yields, gives in, retreats, surrenders