Crossword clues for effrontery
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Effrontery \Ef*front"er*y\, n.; pl. Effronteries. [F. effronterie, fr. effront['e] shameless, fr. L. effrons, -ontis, putting forth the forehead, i. e., barefaced, shameless; ex + frons the forehead. See Front.] Impudence or boldness in confronting or in transgressing the bounds of duty or decorum; insulting presumptuousness; shameless boldness; barefaced assurance.
Corruption lost nothing of its effrontery.
--Bancroft.
Syn: Impudence; sauciness. See Impudence.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"shamelessness, impudence, boldness in transgressing the bounds of modesty and propriety," 1715, from French effronterie, from effronté "shameless," from Old French esfronte "shameless, brazen," probably from Late Latin effrontem (nominative effrons) "barefaced, shameless," from Latin ex- "out" (see ex-) + frontem (nominative frons) "brow" (see front (n.)). Also compare affront.\n
\nLatin frontus had a sense of "ability to blush," but the literal sense of effrontery often has been taken to be "putting forth the forehead." Forehead in Johnson's Dictionary (1755) has a secondary sense of "impudence; confidence; assurance; audaciousness; audacity." English had an earlier verb effront "treat with effrontery" (17c.).
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context uncountable English) insolent and shameless audacity. 2 (context countable English) An act of insolent and shameless audacity.
WordNet
n. audacious (even arrogant) behavior that you have no right to; "he despised them for their presumptuousness" [syn: presumption, presumptuousness, assumption]
Usage examples of "effrontery".
His proquaestor, that Pompeius who has actually had the effrontery to add Bithynicus to his utterly undistinguished name, wrote the story to everyone.
Lone wondered sometimes what the Sawtooth meant to do about the Swede, but so far the Sawtooth seemed inclined to do nothing at all, evidently thinking his war on animal pests more than atoned for his effrontery in taking Skyline as a homestead.
I was looking with dread at the fearful havoc of old age upon a face which, before merciless time had blighted it, had evidently been handsome, but what amazed me was the childish effrontery with which this time-withered specimen of womankind was still waging war with the help of her blasted charms.
He gave us an entertaining account of Bet Flint, a woman of the town, who, with some eccentrick talents and much effrontery, forced herself upon his acquaintance.
It seemed to me that she was making sport of me with the most barefaced effrontery.
Where is the Italian who is pleased with the effrontery and the insolence of the hotel-waiters in Italy?
I, with my smug superiority and my cheap little bag of tricks like spherical trigonometry and azimuths and sun lines and hour angles and bearings from fixed points, having the effrontery to say a man was crazy because he thought he could go back and find something he'd lost in an ocean.
His effrontery showed flawless and deferent manners as he clasped her hand to escort her away.
It consisted of enormous voids of stone catch-basins sometimes surrounded by stone posts, with monumental effrontery.
She found her dinner party hostess’s daughter repairing her make-up and chuntering with a couple of friends over the effrontery of Melanie Potter.
The Lincoln woman’s recent attempt to sabotage the launching of Morning Star was only the latest in a never-ending series of effronteries committed by Khan’s sanctimonious former associates.
I assure you, Sir Knight, that if I had known of the effronteries of those village swains, they would all have borne fat ears!
All these would-be assassins paid for their effrontery by sitting down in electric chairs, and Lia has little doubt that Joel Hinckley, Jr (who allegedly shot at King Richard to impress the female lead of a popular TV series about congressional pages called Right This Way, Mister Dailey) is also going to fry.
I had nothing to lose, I was still officially in the clear, and nothing succeeds like effrontery, especially on a massive scale, Furmint was so staggered to see me that I had the barrel of my pistol between his teeth before his jaw had time to close again: he is surrounded by fancy knobs and bell-pushes all designed to save his life in an emergency, but they were not, you understand, designed to protect him against such as myself.
A married couple who have the effrontery to gaze on each other in public as if they could devour each other.