Dictionary

upfront en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ʌpˈfɹʌnt/
• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. Honest, frank and straightforward.
   • She’s found that people typically start the conversation like this: “Wow, you look great! I didn’t even recognize you.” “When that happens, I usually come back with, ‘Yeah, I've been taking a GLP-1, and it's going so well. I love it.’ I try to say that as upfront as possible,” she says. 2026 January 29, Angela Haupt, “Can I Ask Someone if They’re on Ozempic?”, in TIME, archived from the original on 01 Feb 2026:
2. Open, admitted, out.
   • Appleby is an upfront homosexual, a devout Roman Catholic and a practitioner of the Black Arts. 1979 April 14, Mitzel, “A Massachusetts Morality Play”, in Gay Community News, page 8:
3. In a forward, leading or frontward position.
   • Warning online ticket retailers to be "up front" about fees, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has written to seven of the 19 third-party ticket retailers (TPRs) which did not include their fees in the upfront price. Threatening to take action about hidden charges (known as 'drip pricing'), where an initial price is shown but additional elements are revealed later in the sales process, the ORR reviewed the prices of 19 TPRs. 2023 December 27, Mel Holley, “Network News: Regulator to crack down on hidden ticket charges”, in RAIL, number 999, page 6:
4. Of money, paid in advance.

Forms

Deriveds

upfrontness

Translations (19)

tr belirgin (honest, frank and straightforward) · tr önden (honest, frank and straightforward) · de freimütig (honest, frank and straightforward) · hu nyílt (honest, frank and straightforward) · bg честен (honest, frank and straightforward) · de geradeheraus (honest, frank and straightforward) · tr açık (honest, frank and straightforward) · de offen und ehrlich (honest, frank and straightforward) · de direkt (honest, frank and straightforward) · ru че́стно (honest, frank and straightforward) · hu őszinte (honest, frank and straightforward) · sk priamy (honest, frank and straightforward) · ru прямолинейно (honest, frank and straightforward) · de vordringlich (honest, frank and straightforward) · tr dürüst (honest, frank and straightforward) · ru откры́то (honest, frank and straightforward) · de führend (honest, frank and straightforward) · bg открит (honest, frank and straightforward) · tr belli (honest, frank and straightforward)

upfront en · ADV

Pronunciation

• /ʌpˈfɹʌnt/
• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Beforehand.
   • My commissioners pay half of the price upfront and the other half after they receive the finished product.
2. (not-comparable) As an attacker.
   • He's a poor defender, so we always play him upfront.

Forms

upfront en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ʌpˈfɹʌnt/
• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. A meeting of network executives with the press and major advertisers, signaling the start of advertising sales for a new season.
   • Virginia Heffernan, Times TV critic, reports from this week's TV upfronts, where the networks debut their new schedules. 2007 May 17, Bill Carter, “As the Networks Order New Shows, Fox Moves to Consolidate Its Gains”, in New York Times:

Forms

upfront en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ʌpˈfɹʌnt/
• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. (intransitive, transitive) To bring to the fore; to place up front for consideration.
   • What our analysis has, hopefully, upfronted is the importance to resuscitate the suppressed and silenced voices so as to show the powerful mechanisms of institutional "cases". 1997, Christopher Hall et al., “Silent and silenced voices”, in Adam Jaworski, editor, Silence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, →ISBN, page 204:

Forms