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frontier Definition

fron·tier (frun tir′; also frän-)

noun

  1. the border between two countries
  2. ☆
    1. that part of a settled, civilized country which lies next to an unexplored or undeveloped region
    2. the developing, often still uncivilized or lawless, region of a country
  3. any new field of learning, thought, etc. or any part of a field that is still incompletely investigated: often used in pl. the frontiers of medicine

Etymology: ME frontere < OFr frontier < front: see front

adjective

of, on, or near a frontier

frontier Synonyms

frontier

n.

  1. Boundary

    edge, verge, limit; see boundary.

  2. Backwoods

    hinterland, remote districts, outskirts; see country 1.

frontier Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • empire: The large diocese of Magdeburg was on the north-eastern frontier of the German empire.
  • physics: The goal of the lab is to advance the frontiers of the physics and technology of nanometre-scale structures.

Converse of object

  • push: The initiative is already pushing forward the frontiers of basic science.
  • straddle: Her straddling frontiers run for thousands of miles through the flat European plain.
  • cross: Often we are unprepared to cross a decade frontier.
  • conquer: Challenges were met and new frontiers conquered through sharp-edged innovations and competition.
  • expand: Understanding this, Napoleon was impelled to expand the land frontiers of his empire.
  • roll: Margaret Thatcher did not roll back the frontiers of the State.

Adjective modifier

  • northern: The application of such an attitude secured the northern frontier, the area around the Pennines.
  • health-care: The health-care frontier the person will for anyone interested.
  • eastern: The region just south of the Arctic Circle along the eastern frontier is centered round Kuusamo.
  • Bulgarian: Said he: " It is all wrong to say that there are three thousand or two thousand refugees within the Bulgarian frontier.
  • western: On her western frontier, therefore, Poland feels no security.
  • Afghan: When the advance party reached Fort Ali Masjid on the Afghan frontier, passage to Kabul was formally refused.

Modifies a noun

  • fortress: The City has been the gateway to North Wales since the Romans landed in Britain 2000 years ago and established a frontier fortress here.
  • fort: A trading town and frontier fort, it was raided by Danes in the 10th and 11th cent.
  • province: The Arctic region therefore constitutes a huge frontier province for hydrocarbon exploration.
  • town: The prospect of gold lured settlers to this frontier town, which still retains a pioneer flavor.
  • zone: During the first century AD Shropshire was assumed to be a frontier zone under the control of the Roman army.
  • guard: The EU's external frontiers are to be policed by EU frontier guards.
frontier Quotes

   We stand today on the edge of a new frontier. But the new frontierof which I speak isnot a set of promises.It is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them. It appeals to their pride, not their pocketbooköit holds out the promise of more sacrifice instead of more security.

—Kennedy,John F(itzgerald)

That long frontier fromthe Atlantic tothe Pacificoceans, guarded only by neighbourly respect and honourable obligations, is an exampleto everycountryand a pattern for the future of the world.

—Churchill, Lord Randolph Henry Spencer

Some thirty inches from my nose The frontier of my Person goes, And all the untilled air between Is private pagus or demesne. Stranger, unless with bedroom eyes I beckon you to fraternize, Beware of rudely crossing it: I have no gun, but I can spit.

—Auden,W(ystan) H(ugh)

When you think about the defence of England, you no longer think of the chalk cliffs of Dover.You think of the Rhine. That is where our frontier lies today.

—Baldwin (of Bewdley), Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl

Spaceöthe final frontier.

—Roddenberry, Gene

Possibly the symbol for America is the Frontier† The corresponding symbol for England is the Island† The central symbol for Canada†is undoubtedly Survival, la Survivance.

—Atwood, Margaret Eleanor