Frontal

//ˈfɹʌn.təl// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Ellipsis of frontal bone. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
  2. 2
    A decorative drapery covering the front of an altar.

    "Even the mantelpiece is adorned with a totally unfunctional tasselled valance rather like an altar frontal."

  3. 3
    the face or front of a building wordnet
  4. 4
    The façade of a building.
  5. 5
    a drapery that covers the front of an altar wordnet
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  1. 6
    an adornment worn on the forehead wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of, relating to, directed toward, or situated at the front. not-comparable
  2. 2
    Of, relating to, directed toward, or situated at the front.; Directed against the front or at the main point or issue. not-comparable

    "a frontal attack"

  3. 3
    Of or relating to the forehead or frontal bone. not-comparable
  4. 4
    Parallel to the main axis of the body and at right angles to the sagittal plane. not-comparable
  5. 5
    Any of the scales of a reptile that lie in the general region of the forehead, more specifically between the eyes and to the anterior of this area. not-comparable
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  1. 6
    Of or relating to a weather front. not-comparable
Adjective
  1. 1
    belonging to the front part wordnet
  2. 2
    of or adjacent to the forehead or frontal bone wordnet
  3. 3
    meeting front to front wordnet
  4. 4
    of or relating to the front of an advancing mass of air wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
anteriorfacadealtaraltar carpetaltar deskaltar facing

Example

More examples

"Children below the age of 8 have an underdeveloped frontal lobe that might cause them to be unable to separate reality from fantasy. Some of them might believe that there are monsters in their closet or under the bed, for example. They are also sometimes unable to distinguish dreams from reality."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from New Latin frontālis, from frons (“the forehead, brow, front”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix), equivalent to front + -al; cognate of French frontal. Doublet of frontalis.

Etymology 2

From Middle English frountel, from Old French frontel, from Latin frontāle (“a frontlet, metal band for the forehead”).

Related phrases

frontal arteryfrontal bonefrontal eminencefrontal lobefrontal lobelessfrontal nervefrontal nudityfrontal planefrontal pointfrontal processfrontal sinusfrontal suture

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