Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
face-to-face \face-to-face\ adj.
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without intervening persons; involving direct communication between persons in each other's presence; -- of conversation or confrontation; as, face-to-face negotiations.
Syn: person-to-person.
having the front parts facing each other.
Wiktionary
a. In one another's presence. adv. While physically present. n. A meeting, especially a meeting between two people conducted in person as opposed to a meeting conducted at a distance through technology.
WordNet
adj. in each other's presence; "a face-to-face encounter"
adv. within each other's presence; "she met the president face-to-face"
directly facing each other; "the two photographs lay face-to-face on the table"; "lived all their lives in houses face-to-face across the street"; "they sat opposite at the table" [syn: opposite]
Wikipedia
The face-to-face relation is a concept in the French philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas' thought on human sociality. It means that, ethically, people are responsible to one-another in the face-to-face encounter. Specifically, Lévinas says that the human face "orders and ordains" us. It calls the subject into “giving and serving” the Other.
Usage examples of "face-to-face".
So it was that by the time we arrived in Binh Khoi, I had made scarcely any progress in adjusting to the possibility that I might soon come face-to-face with the man who had killed my mother.
He shifted and Brenn found himself face-to-face with the lovely Miss Hamlin.
I told him to think of a real secure place for another meeting because Paul Castellano wanted a once only face-to-face meeting with him.
Being on the phone with Greenway had been unnerving enough, but my teeth were starting to chatter at the thought of a face-to-face encounter.
When he stepped out into the dim hall, he came face-to-face with the crowned muzzle of a hogleg, stainless-steel blaster-a Ruger Redhawk.
Finally, the doctor I had spoken to appeared and we met face-to-face: he was the picture of a smart young oncologist, a well-groomed man with clipped manners and the lean physique of a runner beneath his lab coat.
Surrounded by a group of overtalkative high school kids on one side, and crying baby twins on the other, Joey pushed her way through the insanity, ran under the overpass that housed the railroad station, and found herself face-to-face with the sixty-foot Christmas tree and colorful storefronts of Main Street, U.
As Sornnn turned away from Raan Tallus, he came face-to-face with Kwenn.
Come like this at the end of his first face-to-face with the Unmaker, Redbird had to have some purpose.
Moreover, Smithe would be allowed to actually look at him, face-to-face: during their first encounter, the witchman had concealed himself behind a woven grass screen.
And how much longer will we have to wait before some high-powered shark with a fistful of answers will finally bring us face-to-face with the ugly question that is already so close to the surface in this country, that sooner or later even politicians will have to cope with it?
Elaine Brusen face-to-face, decided that she looked at least as haggard as he did, and besides that, more overworked.
Instead of Darfur towering above his opponent, they stared face-to-face, no more than inches apart.
He still felt unsteady, but he wanted to deal with Gottbaum face-to-face.
He was obviously very proud of having shot, skinned, and cleaned it himself, but Delilah shrank back with an exclamation of frightened disgust, as a delicate maiden would when coming face-to-face with the world's realities for the first time.