as in marginal
located at or near a border
a frontier town with a reputation for vice and lawlessness
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in border
a region along the dividing line between two countries
the Apaches were once feared on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico frontier
Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in countryside
a rural region that forms the edge of the settled or developed part of a country
Alaska has been called America's last frontier
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Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of frontier
Charlie Campbell, Time, 11 Dec. 2025
Lauren Morganbesser, semafor.com, 15 May 2026
Mandatory frontier-model approval, as currently floated, is poorly targeted and creates an incumbent moat that locks in the largest developers; however, perhaps a better version could be formulated.
—Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 15 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for frontier
Adjective
That worried Huang, who fears a Chinese rival, and White House officials, who believe Chinese dependence on non-frontier American chips is the best way to ensure a lead in AI.
—Charlie Campbell, Time, 11 Dec. 2025
Noun
Anthropic’s new frontier model, Mythos, cracked MacOS during testing, according to The Wall Street Journal.
—Lauren Morganbesser, semafor.com, 15 May 2026
Mandatory frontier-model approval, as currently floated, is poorly targeted and creates an incumbent moat that locks in the largest developers; however, perhaps a better version could be formulated.
—Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 15 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for frontier
Recent Examples of Synonyms for frontier
Adjective
-
The numbers themselves are marginal for 90-degree weather, including 850 mb temperatures being at just 17° C today.—
Ron Smiley,
CBS News,
18 May 2026
-
The Old English hymn, long treated as a marginal afterthought in later copies of Venerable Bede’s history, appears embedded in the main text.—
Andrea Rosa,
Los Angeles Times,
18 May 2026
Noun
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Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar said his new government has summoned the Russian ambassador over a drone attack near Hungary’s border, in a significant shift from his predecessor Viktor Orbán’s friendly relations with Moscow.—
Hanna Arhirova,
Chicago Tribune,
14 May 2026
-
The county is majority Republican, but the general sentiment was strongly opposed to a border barrier.—
Rachel Monroe,
New Yorker,
14 May 2026
Noun
-
From Seoul to Dubai to wellness retreats tucked into the Italian countryside, beauty tourism has become a defining travel trend, with celebrities openly documenting trips built around facials, injectables, regenerative therapies and reset-style wellness stays.—
Hanna Wickes,
Sacbee.com,
14 May 2026
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About an hour west of Baltimore, where the city and suburban landscape gives way to Maryland’s rural countryside, visitors can find Fingerboard Farm, an historic landmark in Frederick County that once nurtured fruit orchards.—
William Deffaa,
Baltimore Sun,
14 May 2026
Noun
-
Beyond that lies the equestrian and agricultural country of Somerset County, including Moorland Farm, home of the annual Far Hills Race Meet horse race for more than 100 years.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
16 May 2026
-
Just 15 minutes east, is Vega, Texas – a small country town with sprinkles of Route 66 memorabilia.—
Chelsea Torres,
FOXNews.com,
16 May 2026
Noun
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Even the foundations of today’s artificial intelligence boom were laid by the NSF in the 1980s and 1990s, when neural networks were a backwater dismissed by mainstream computer science.—
Gautam Mukunda,
Twin Cities,
14 May 2026
-
For decades, seabed cartography was a scientific backwater.—
Natalie Sum Yue Chung,
Fortune,
3 May 2026
Noun
-
The film eliminated even a gesture toward a plot while showing solitary nonprofessional and real-life ranch-hand Misael Saavedra chopping and hauling logs in the Argentinian hinterlands (in actuality, Alonso’s family’s ranch).—
Vadim Rizov,
IndieWire,
16 May 2026
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Together, all of those developments deepened class and regional inequalities, as capital flowed away from workers in the industrial hinterland toward financial centers like New York.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
15 May 2026
Noun
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Outfitters like Mills Wilderness Adventures lead multiday horseback journeys deep into the backcountry, complete with meals and camp setups, allowing travelers to experience this stunning, isolated place without the logistical heavy lifting.—
Taryn Shorr-Mckee,
Travel + Leisure,
17 May 2026
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This off-grid expedition behemoth is prepared to spend up to 2 full weeks at a time in the deep, dusty backcountry.—
C.C. Weiss
May 17,
New Atlas,
17 May 2026
Noun
-
Beautyberry bushes need pruning to maintain their shape and watering during dry periods.—
Patricia Shannon,
Southern Living,
17 May 2026
-
Outside there are plenty of fruit trees with pear, apple, peach, cherry and mulberry on the property as well as concord grapes and blueberry bushes.—
Kaitlyn Keegan,
Hartford Courant,
16 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Frontier.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/frontier. Accessed 20 May. 2026.
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