Outfront

Part of speech: adjective, adverb

Definitions

1. Located at the forefront or leading position in a space or concept
2. prominently visible and easily accessible to onlookers or participants
3. exhibiting a bold and candid approach in topics or discussions

Etymology: "Outfront" is a compound of "out" and "front," so its history is largely the history of its two parts. "Front" comes from Latin "frons," meaning forehead, which passed through Old French "front" into English, where it first described the forehead and then, by extension, the forward-facing side of anything, including a battle line or the face of a building. "Out" is an older Germanic word, and in combination it intensifies the sense of position: a thing that is out front is positioned ahead of, and visibly apart from, everything around it. The spelling is the only real variation. Dictionaries record "out-front" with a hyphen and "outfront" as a closed form, and both are accepted alternatives for the same adjective and adverb. The closed spelling follows the common English pattern of joining a directional particle to a noun, as in "outside" or "outlook," so the unhyphenated version is the more familiar one in modern writing.

Synonyms: visible, prominent

Antonyms: hidden, concealed