Effrontery


[ih-fruhn-tuh-ree] /ɪˈfrʌn tə ri/

noun, plural effronteries.
1.
shameless or impudent boldness; barefaced audacity:
She had the effrontery to ask for two free samples.
2.
an act or instance of this.
/ɪˈfrʌntərɪ/
noun (pl) -ies
1.
shameless or insolent boldness; impudent presumption; audacity; temerity
n.

1715, from French effronterie, from effronté “shameless,” from Old French esfronte “shameless, brazen,” probably from Late Latin effrontem (nominative effrons) “barefaced,” from Latin ex- “out” (see ex-) + frontem (nominative frons) “brow” (see front (n.)).

Latin 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.”

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