Frontier

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Frontier-blues.jpg

Origin

Middle English fronter, from Anglo-French frountere, fronter, from front

Definitions

  • 1a : a border between two countries
b obsolete : a stronghold on a frontier
  • 2a : a region that forms the margin of settled or developed territory
b : the farthermost limits of knowledge or achievement in a particular subject
c : a line of division between different or opposed things <the frontiers separating science and the humanities — R. W. Clark>
d : a new field for exploitative or developmental activity

Description

A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. 'Frontier' was borrowed into English from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"--the region of a country that fronts on another country (see also marches).

The use of "frontier" to mean "a region at the edge of a settled area" is a special North American development. (Compare the Australian "outback".)

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