Frontal

How to spell frontal

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce frontal

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does frontal mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to, situated at, or directed towards the front of something.
2. adjectiveRelating to the forehead or the front region of the brain or skull.
3. adjectiveRelating to a weather front, the boundary between two air masses.

Frontal in a sentence

• The car suffered serious damage in the frontal collision.

• The scan revealed activity in the frontal lobe of the brain.

• The forecast warned of heavy rain along the approaching frontal system.

• The building presents an imposing frontal view from the main road.

• The surgeon described a small fracture of the frontal bone.

• The storm developed where warm and cold air met in a frontal zone.

Where does frontal come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin noun frons (genitive frontis), which meant 'forehead' and, by extension, the 'front' or 'foremost part' of anything. From that noun Latin formed the adjective frontalis, meaning 'of the forehead' or 'belonging to the front'. English adopted it through scholarly and medical Latin, and by the 1600s 'frontal' was used both in anatomy (for the bone of the forehead) and more generally for anything facing or attacking from the front. The same frons root sits inside the everyday word 'front' itself, as well as 'frontier' and 'affront', which is a useful reminder that the spelling keeps the plain front- stem before simply adding -al. Because the ending is the regular Latin -alis turned into English -al, there is no hidden double letter or silent twist to trip up the writer.

How the word is built

• front (forehead, front)
• -al (adjective suffix)