in the face of

English

Pronunciation

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Preposition

in the face of

1. When confronted with.

   in the face of growing pressure, the company changed its logo

   • 2020 December 2, Industry Insider, “The costs on cutting carbon”, in Rail, page 76:

     Significant rail projects have been mothballed before in the face of changed circumstances - in particular, the LNER Woodhead project which was postponed due to wartime conditions and not revived until 1948, as money became available after nationalisation.

   • 2024 July 13, Laura Onita, Eleanor Olcott, “Shein's master of reinvention treads tricky path to IPO”, in FT Weekend, page 11:

     Responsible for public affairs, business strategy, corporate development and finance, he [Donald Tang] now faces the task of getting an initial public offering over the line in London after ditching earlier plans to list in New York in the face of US political opposition.

2. Despite, against, contrary to.
   • 1999 March 20, Natalie Angiers, The Guardian:

     They declare ringing confirmation for their theories even in the face of feeble data.

   • 2018, Vassilis Vassilikos, ... And Dreams Are Dreams

     His daughters were serious. In fact the elder one had joined the Communist Youth, where the kids were almost puritanical, growing up with principles in the face of the triple enemy: capitalism-imperialism-Americanocracy.

3. (archaic or law) On the face of.

Derived terms

• fly in the face of
• in face of
• spit in the face of

Translations

Translations

• Czech: tváří v tvář, s ohledem na
• German: angesichts (de)
• Italian: di fronte (it), nonostante (it)
• Polish: w obliczu (pl)