in the face of

prep

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"in-the-face-of" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“in the face of” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a preposition. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - When confronted with.

Corpus desk

Index EN-in-the-face-of · in the face of · English

in the face of · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 14 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "I" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for in the face of
PropertyValue
Headwordin the face of
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechPreposition
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “in the face of” in English

in the face offalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

in the face of is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as apreposition. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for in the face of in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is in the face of, spelled I-N- -T-H-E- -F-A-C-E- -O-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    When confronted with.
  2. 2
    Despite; against; contrary to.
  3. 3
    On the face of.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how in the face of appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. in the face of growing pressure, the company changed its logo
  2. Laugh in the face of adversity.

This word in other languages

angesichts(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "in the face of"?
"in the face of" is spelled I-N- -T-H-E- -F-A-C-E- -O-F.
What does "in the face of" mean?
As a preposition, "in the face of" means: When confronted with.
What language does "in the face of" come from?
"in the face of" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list