the act or an instance of confronting a situation of mutual hostility between two powers or nations without open warfare a state of conflict between two antagonistic forces, creeds, or ideas etc
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
con•fron•ta•tion /ˌkɑnfrənˈteɪʃən/USA pronunciation n.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- the act of confronting: [countable]A confrontation with UN forces is the last thing he wants.[uncountable]The use of confrontation won't lead to peace.
con•fron•ta•tion
(kon′frən tā′shən, -frun-),USA pronunciation n.
- an act of confronting.
- the state of being confronted.
- a meeting of persons face to face.
- an open conflict of opposing ideas, forces, etc.
- a bringing together of ideas, themes, etc., for comparison.
- Psychology, Psychotherapya technique used in group therapy, as in encounter groups, in which one is forced to recognize one's shortcomings and their possible consequences.
- 1625–35; confront + -ation; compare Medieval Latin confrontātiō, French, Middle French confrontation
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'confrontation' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Mexican stand-off
- apt
- bare-knuckle
- bear
- collision course
- confrontational
- confrontationist
- delusion
- emollient
- encounter group
- eyeball
- eyeball-to-eyeball
- face
- face to face
- face-off
- face-to-face
- facedown
- gunfight
- head-on
- head-to-head
- high noon
- in-your-face
- loggerhead
- mano a mano
- march
- match-up
- meeting
- one-on-one
- opposition
- pissing contest
- showdown
- sounding
- toe-to-toe