Face-to-face

adj, adv, noun

adj, adv, noun ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A meeting, especially a meeting between two people conducted in person as opposed to a meeting conducted at a distance through technology.

    ""If you want to have a face-to-face with Charlie?" I asked W.R., "Why invite the rest of us?""

Adjective
  1. 1
    In one another's presence. not-comparable

    "a face-to-face meeting"

Adjective
  1. 1
    in each other's presence wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    While physically present. not-comparable

    "I came face-to-face with her on the battlefield recently. Resistance vs. Roekaar. My favorite mother looked at me with the kindness and empathy that I remembered… then she shot me."

Adverb
  1. 1
    within each other's presence wordnet
  2. 2
    directly facing each other wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
face to faceopposite

Example

More examples

"Sadly many people will believe things told to them via an email which they would find implausible face-to-face."

Etymology

face + to + face

More for "face-to-face"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.