Behind vs Front - What's the difference?
behind | front |
At the back of.
*
*:But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶, and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, little dreaming that the deadly tube was levelled at them.
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Timothy Garton Ash)
, volume=189, issue=6, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= To the back of.
After, time- or motion-wise.
*1883 , (Robert Louis Stevenson), (Treasure Island)
*:About the center, and a good way behind the rest, Silver and I followed - I tethered by my rope.
Responsible for.
In support of.
:
Left a distance by, in progress or improvement; inferior to.
:
*Bible, xi.5:
*:I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
At the back part; in the rear.
* Milton
Toward the back part or rear; backward.
Overdue, in arrears.
Slow; of a watch or clock.
existing afterwards
* Shakespeare
Backward in time or order of succession; past.
* Bible, Phil. ii. 13
Behind the scenes in a theatre; backstage.
* 1890 , (Oscar Wilde), The Picture of Dorian Gray , Vintage 2007, p. 68:
(archaic) Not yet brought forward, produced, or exhibited to view; out of sight; remaining.
* John Locke
the rear, back-end
butt, the buttocks, bottom
(Australian rules football) A one-point score.
* 1880 . "The Opening Ball" in Comic Australian Verse'', ed. G. Lehmann, 1975. Quoted in G. A. Wilkes, ''A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms , second edition, 1985, (Sydney University Press), ISBN 0-424-00113-6.
The catcher.
In the Eton College field game, any of a group of players consisting of two "shorts" (who try to kick the ball over the bully) and a "long" (who defends the goal).
(senseid)The foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves.
The side of a building with the main entrance.
* , chapter=1
, title= A field of activity.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
, author=Stephen Ledoux, volume=100, issue=1, page=60, magazine=(American Scientist)
, title= A person or institution acting as the public face of some other, covert group.
(meteorology) The interface or transition zone between two airmasses of different density, often resulting in precipitation. Since the temperature distribution is the most important regulator of atmospheric density, a front almost invariably separates airmasses of different temperature.
(military) An area where armies are engaged in conflict, especially the line of contact.
(military) The lateral space occupied by an element measured from the extremity of one flank to the extremity of the other flank.
(military) The direction of the enemy.
(military) When a combat situation does not exist or is not assumed, the direction toward which the command is faced.
(obsolete) A major military subdivision of the Soviet Army.
(informal) An act, show, , persona: an intentional and false impression of oneself.
* Shakespeare
* Macaulay
(historical) That which covers the foremost part of the head: a front piece of false hair worn by women.
* Elizabeth Browning
The most conspicuous part.
* Shakespeare
(obsolete) The beginning.
* Shakespeare
(UK) a seafront or coastal promenade.
(obsolete) The forehead or brow, the part of the face above the eyes; sometimes, also, the whole face.
* Alexander Pope
* Shakespeare
* Prior
Located at or near the front.
(comparable, phonetics) Of a vowel pronounced near the tip of the tongue.
(dated) To face (on, to); to be pointed in a given direction.
*
*:The great gate fronting to the north was about four feet high, and almost two feet wide, through which I could easily creep.
*1939 , (Raymond Chandler), The Big Sleep , Penguin, 2011, p.35:
*:The door fronted on a narrow run, like a footbridge over a gully, that filled the gap between the house wall and the edge of the bank.
*1999 , (George RR Martin), A Clash of Kings , Bantam, 2011, p.312:
*:They emerged atop the broad curving steps that fronted on the Street of the Sisters, near the foot of Visenya's Hill.
*2010 , Ingrid D Rowland, "The Siege of Rome", New York Review of Books , Blog, 26 March:
*:The palazzo has always fronted on a bus stop—but this putative man of the people has kindly put an end to that public service.
To face, be opposite to.
*1749 , (John Cleland), Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure , Penguin, 1985, p.66:
*:After saluting her, he led her to a couch that fronted us, where they both sat down, and the young Genoese helped her to a glass of wine, with some Naples biscuit on a salver.
*1813 , (Jane Austen), Pride and Prejudice :
*:down they ran into the dining-room, which fronted the lane, in quest of this wonder; it was two ladies stopping in a low phaeton at the garden gate.
*1913 , (DH Lawrence), Sons and Lovers , Penguin, 2006, p.49:
*:She sat on a seat under the alders in the cricket ground, and fronted the evening.
To face up to, to meet head-on, to confront.
*, II.6:
*:those that have willed to attaine to some greater excellence, have not beene content, at home, and at rest to expect the rigors of fortune; but have rather gone to meet and front her before, and witting-earnestly cast themselves to the triall of the hardest difficulties.
*1623 , (William Shakespeare), King Henry IV, Part 2 :
*:What well-appointed leader fronts us here?
To adorn the front of; to put on the front.
*2001 , (Terry Goodkind), The Pillars of Creation , p.148:
*:Three tiers of balconies fronted with roped columns supporting arched openings looked down on the marble hall.
(phonetics, transitive, intransitive) To pronounce with the tongue in a front position.
*2005 , Paul Skandera / Peter Burleigh, A Manual of English Phonetics and Phonology , p.48:
*:The velar plosives are often fronted through the influence of a following front vowel, and retracted through the influence of a following back vowel.
(linguistics) To move (a word or clause) to the start of a sentence.
(slang) To act as a front (for); to cover (for).
*2007 , Harold Robbins, A Stone for Danny Fisher , p.183:
*:Everybody knew Skopas fronted for the fight mob even though he was officially the arena manager.
To lead or be the spokesperson of (a campaign, organisation etc.).
*2009 September 1, Mark Sweney, The Guardian :
*:Ray Winstone is fronting a campaign for the Football Association that aims to stop pushy parents shouting abuse at their children during the grassroots football season.
(colloquial) To provide money or financial assistance in advance to.
*2004 , (Danielle Steele), Ransom , p.104:
*:I'm prepared to say that I fronted you the money for a business deal with me, and the investment paid off brilliantly.
To assume false or disingenuous appearances.
*'>citation
*2008 , Briscoe/Akinyemi, ‘Womanizer’:
*:Boy don't try to front , / I-I know just-just what you are, are-are.
*2008 Markus Naerheim, The City , p.531
*:You know damned straight what this is about, or you ain't as smart as you been frontin' .
To appear before, as in to front court.
As nouns the difference between behind and front
is that behind is the rear, back-end while front is (facing side)The foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves.As a preposition behind
is at the back of.As an adverb behind
is at the back part; in the rear.As an adjective front is
located at or near the front.As a verb front is
to face ({{term|on|lang=en}}, {{term|to|lang=en}}); to be pointed in a given direction.behind
English
Preposition
(English prepositions)Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli, passage=Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.}}
Synonyms
* in back of * to the rear ofAdverb
(en adverb)- I shall not lag behind .
- to look behind
- My employer is two paychecks behind on paying my salary.
- I'm two weeks behind in my schedule.
- ''My watch is four minutes behind .
- He left behind a legacy of death and sorrow.
- He stayed behind after the war.
- Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, / And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, / Leave not a rack behind .
- forgetting those things which are behind
- ‘After the performance was over I went behind , and spoke to her.’
- We cannot be sure that there is no evidence behind .
Usage notes
For usage in phrasal verbs, see Category: English phrasal verbs with particle "behind": .Noun
(en noun)- A roar from ten thousand throats go up,
For we've kicked another behind.
Derived terms
* behind bars * behind closed doors * behind in the count * behind somebody's back * behind the arc * behind the bit * behind the counter * behind the eight-ball * behind the scenes * behind the wheel * behindhand * caught behind * come from behind * drop behind * fall behind * get behind * hiney * leave behind * rushed behind * stay behind * wet behind the earsStatistics
*References
* Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Spatial particles of orientation", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition , Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8front
English
Noun
(en noun)Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path […]. It twisted and turned,
Behaviorism at 100, passage=Becoming more aware of the progress that scientists have made on behavioral fronts can reduce the risk that other natural scientists will resort to mystical agential accounts when they exceed the limits of their own disciplinary training.}}
- with smiling fronts encountering
- The inhabitants showed a bold front .
- like any plain Miss Smith's, who wears a front
- the very head and front of my offending
- summer's front
- Bless'd with his father's front , his mother's tongue.
- Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front .
- His front yet threatens, and his frowns command.
Synonyms
* (l)Antonyms
* back * rearDerived terms
* active front * arctic front * battlefront * beachfront * back to front/back-to-front * bowfront * breakfront * cold front * common front * company front * confront * fly front * forefront * frontage * frontal * front and center * front bench/frontbench * front bottom * front burner * frontcourt * front crawl * front door * front drive * front end/front-end * front-facing * front fee * front foot * front grant * front group * frontispiece * frontless * frontlet * frontline/front line * front load * front man * front matter * front money * frontmost * front name * frontness * front nine * front office * front of house * front of the house * front organization * front page * front porch * front projector * front range * front ring * front room * front row * front runner * front running * front stall/front-stall * front teeth * front vowel * front wall * frontward * frontwards * front-wheel drive * frontwise * front yard * home front * in front * in front of * lakefront * occluded front * oceanfront * out-front * polar front * popular front * riverfront * seafront * shirtfront * shock front * shop front/shopfront * shorefront * stationary front * storefront * up front/upfront * warm front * waterfront * weather front * Y-fronts * zip-frontHyponyms
* (The foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves) (nautical) (of a ship)Adjective
(-)- The front runner was thirty meters ahead of her nearest competitor.