Standard Lemma guide

effrontery

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ɪˈfɹʌntəɹi/
  • /ɛˈfɹʌntəɹi/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: IH0 F R AH1 N T ER0 IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Insolent and shameless audacity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • We even had the effrontery to suggest that he should leave the country.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An act of insolent and shameless audacity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

Examples

  • Any refusal to salute the president shall be counted as an effrontery.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

audacious (even arrogant) behavior that you have no right to

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he despised them for their presumptuousness

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: presumption, presumptuousness, assumption

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: audacity, audaciousness

Narrower terms: uppityness, uppishness

History

Etymology

From late 17th century French effronterie, from effronté (“shameless, insolent”), from Old French esfronté, from Vulgar Latin *exfrontātus. Compare Latin effrōns (“barefaced”), from the prefix ex- (“from”) + frōns (“forehead”) (English: front). By surface analysis, ef- + front + -er + -y.

Across languages

Translations

42 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: անամոթություն (anamotʻutʻyun) — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Armenian: լկտիություն (lktiutʻyun) — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Armenian: անպատկառություն (anpatkaṙutʻyun) — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Armenian: լրբություն (lrbutʻyun) — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Bulgarian: наха́лство (nahálstvo) — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Bulgarian: безочливост (bezočlivost) — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Chinese Mandarin: 厚顏無恥 /厚颜无耻 (hòuyánwúchǐ) — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Dutch: onbeschaamdheid — insolent and shameless audacity
  • French: effronterie — insolent and shameless audacity
  • German: Dreistigkeit — insolent and shameless audacity
  • German: Frechheit — insolent and shameless audacity
  • German: Unverschämtheit — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Greek: θράσος (thrásos) — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Hebrew: חוצפה (chutzpá) — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Hungarian: arcátlanság — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Icelandic: ósvífni — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Icelandic: óskammfeilni — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Irish: neamhnáire — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Italian: sfrontatezza — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Japanese: 厚顔無恥 (kōganmuchi) — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Korean: 뻔뻔스러움 (ppeonppeonseureoum) — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Portuguese: descaramento — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Portuguese: acinte — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Portuguese: desfaçatez — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Romanian: sfruntare — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Romanian: nerușinare — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Romanian: insolență — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Russian: бессты́дство (besstýdstvo) — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Russian: на́глость (náglostʹ) — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Russian: наха́льство (naxálʹstvo) — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Russian: беззасте́нчивость (bezzasténčivostʹ) — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Serbo-Croatian: besramnost — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Serbo-Croatian: bestidnost — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Serbo-Croatian: besramlje — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Sicilian: tuschizza — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Spanish: desfachatez — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Spanish: desvergüenza — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Spanish: descaro — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Swedish: fräckhet — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Swedish: oförskämdhet — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Ottoman Turkish: پیشانی (pişanî) — insolent and shameless audacity
  • Ottoman Turkish: یوز (yüz) — insolent and shameless audacity