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What does frontier mean?

Definitions for frontier
frʌnˈtɪər, frɒn-; also, esp. Brit., ˈfrʌn tɪərfron·tier

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word frontier.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. frontiernoun

    a wilderness at the edge of a settled area of a country

    "the individualism of the frontier in Andrew Jackson's day"

  2. frontiernoun

    an international boundary or the area (often fortified) immediately inside the boundary

  3. frontiernoun

    an undeveloped field of study; a topic inviting research and development

    "he worked at the frontier of brain science"

Wiktionary

  1. frontiernoun

    That part of a country which fronts or faces another country or an unsettled region; the marches; the border, confine, or extreme part of a country, bordering on another country; the border of the settled and cultivated part of a country; as, the frontier of civilization.

  2. frontieradjective

    Lying on the exterior part; bordering; conterminous.

    a frontier town

  3. frontieradjective

    Of or relating to a frontier.

  4. Etymology: From fronter (whence Modern French frontière), from front.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Frontieradjective

    Bordering.

    A place there lies on Gallia’s utmost bounds,
    Where rising seas insult the frontier grounds. Addison.

  2. Frontiernoun

    The marches; the limit; the utmost verge of any territory; the border: properly that which terminates not at the sea, but fronts another country.

    Etymology: frontiere, French.

    Draw all the inhabitants of those borders away, or plant garrisons upon all those frontiers about him. Edmund Spenser, on Ireland.

    I upon my frontiers here
    Keep residence,
    That little which is left so to defend. John Milton, Paradise Lost.

Wikipedia

  1. Frontier

    A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a boundary. A frontier can also be referred to as a "front". The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that fronts on another country (see also marches). Unlike a border—a rigid and clear-cut form of state boundary—in the most general sense a frontier can be fuzzy or diffuse. For example, the frontier between the Eastern United States and the Old West in the 1800s was an area where European American settlements gradually thinned out and gave way to Native American settlements or uninhabited land. The frontier was not always a single continuous area, as California and various large cities were populated before the land that connected those to the East. Frontiers and borders also imply different geopolitical strategies. In Ancient Rome, the Roman Republic experienced a period of active expansion and creating new frontiers. From the reign of Augustus onward, the Roman borders turned into defensive boundaries that divided the Roman and non-Roman realms. In the eleventh-century China, China's Song Dynasty defended its northern border with the nomadic Liao empire by building an extensive manmade forest. Later in the early twelfth century, Song Dynasty invaded the Liao and dismantled the northern forest, converting the former defensive border into an expanding frontier.In modern history, colonialism and imperialism has applied and produced elaborate use and concepts of a frontier, especially in the settler colonial states of North America, expressed by the "Manifest Destiny" and "Frontier Thesis". Mobile frontiers was discussed during the Schengen convention. It was used by Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru to describe Mao Zedong's actions of grabbing Indian territory before and during the 1962 War through a creeping process. Albert Nevett, in his 1954 book "India Going Red?" wrote that "The Empire of Soviet Communism has 'mobile frontiers'".

ChatGPT

  1. frontier

    Frontier generally refers to a border, boundary, or a limit beyond which something extends or occurs. It can also represent an area or field of activity, knowledge, or exploration that is uncharted or yet to be fully explored. The term originated from the geographical context, referring to the westernmost part of a country, where the land is wild and unsettled.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Frontiernoun

    that part of a country which fronts or faces another country or an unsettled region; the marches; the border, confine, or extreme part of a country, bordering on another country; the border of the settled and cultivated part of a country; as, the frontier of civilization

  2. Frontiernoun

    an outwork

  3. Frontieradjective

    lying on the exterior part; bordering; conterminous; as, a frontier town

  4. Frontieradjective

    of or relating to a frontier

  5. Frontierverb

    to constitute or form a frontier; to have a frontier; -- with on

  6. Etymology: [F. frontire, LL. frontaria. See Front.]

Wikidata

  1. Frontier

    A frontier is the political and geographical areas near or beyond a boundary. The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that fronts on another country. The word "frontier" also means a region at the edge of a settled area, especially in North American development. It is a transition zone where explorers, pioneers and settlers were arriving. That is, as pioneers moved into the "frontier zone", they were changed by the encounter. That is what Frederick Jackson Turner calls "the significance of the frontier." For example, Turner argues that, in United States' 1893, one change was that unlimited free land in this zone was available, and thus offered the psychological sense of unlimited opportunity. This, in turn, had many consequences such as optimism, future orientation, shedding of restraints due to land scarcity, and wastefulness of natural resources.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Frontier

    front′ēr, n. the boundary of a territory: (Shak.) an outwork.—adj. lying on the frontier: bordering.—v.t. (Spens.) to place on the frontier.—n. Front′iersman, one settled on the borders of a country. [O. Fr. frontier—L. frons.]

Dictionary of Nautical Terms

  1. frontier

    The limits or borders of a country.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. frontier

    That part of a country which fronts or faces another country; the marches; the border, confines, or extreme part of a country, bordering on another country; hence, a fortified or guarded position. Also, lying on the exterior part; as, a frontier town. Acquired on a frontier; as, frontier experience.

Editors Contribution

  1. frontier

    FRONTIER AIRLINES

    FRONTIER AIRLINES


    Submitted by kathienjohnjohnson on March 17, 2020  

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British National Corpus

  1. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'frontier' in Nouns Frequency: #2456

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

How to pronounce frontier?

How to say frontier in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of frontier in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of frontier in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of frontier in a Sentence

  1. Adam Fridman:

    Digital marketing is still largely a frontier, online brands don’t have the staying power traditional brands once did. They require constant curation and content and can be deeply damaged in the blink of an eye.

  2. Charles Coxe:

    The jury is still out on whether these investments in talent in digital will pay off, right now, the audience engagement doesn’t justify it, but we’re still in the frontier thinking stage. Once more people settle into consuming content online, those viewership numbers will only go up, and audiences will naturally be drawn to the names they already know from TV.

  3. Rebecca Blackwell/AP/File Trump:

    We’ll actually build new cities in our country again, these freedom cities will reopen the frontier, reignite American imagination, and give hundreds of thousands of young people and other people, all hardworking families, a new shot at home ownership and in fact, the American dream.

  4. Ajaita Shah:

    We are very proud of how we've been able to succeed with Frontier Markets, frontier Markets's a part of my mission to make sure we understand that investing in women is not just an impact story but smart business and the key to end poverty.

  5. Verisk Maplecroft:

    Areas with a rapidly expanding agricultural frontier and a large indigenous population are particularly at risk for land conflicts.

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Popularity rank by frequency of use

frontier#1#8622#10000

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Translations for frontier

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"frontier." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 5 Jan. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/frontier>.

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