front-foot

See also: front foot

English

Etymology

From the phrase on the front foot.

Adjective

front-foot (comparative more front-foot, superlative most front-foot)

1. On the front foot; Acting so as to take control of a situation.
   • 2015, Christopher Johns, Mindful Leadership: A Guide for the Health Care Professions:

     Front foot thinking is about 'being in place', taking the initiative and being proactive, rather than being caught on the back foot, reactive, defensive and uncertain.

   • 2021 May 29, Phil McNulty, “Manchester City 0-1 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Chelsea needed to be defensively perfect but this was no smash-and-grab result. It was a front-foot display to take the initiative away from City in the first half.

2. Based on the width of the front of a property.
   • 1927, Journal of the New England Water Works Association, page 442:

     There are, of course, excellent examples of extensions to existing systems being carried out on the front-foot assessment plan, but this procedure is distinctly different from the programs herein outlined as applied to newly created systems of large size.