effrontery
noun

- extreme rudeness without any ability to understand that your behaviour is not acceptable to other people

(Cambridge Dictionary)

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ORIGIN

Imagine you are in a long queue at an airport ticket counter. Suddenly someone rushes to the front of the line and demands to be served immediately because his plane is leaving soon and he can't be late for a very important meeting. That's effrontery.

The same can be said for someone who finishes their meal in a restaurant, leaving not one crumb on their plate, and then refuses to pay or even tip the server because it's not exactly what he ordered. That's effrontery!

Effrontery is probably from the Late Latin "effrons" (barefaced, shameless), which stems from ex (out, upwards) + frons (brow or front).

The Latin frontus had the figurative sense of blushing (showing embarrassment) but the literal sense of effrontery was often used in the context of putting forth the forehead.

Johnson's Dictionary from 1755 lists a secondary and figurative sense of "impudence or brazenness" which derives from the literal sense of someone shoving their forehead forward in a show of arrogance: just like the person at the airport ticket counter.

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SYNONYMS

arrogance, audacity, brashness, brazenness, cheekiness, chutzpah, gall, impertinence, impudence, insolence, rudeness, shamelessness

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Practice OWAD in a conversation:

"He had the EFFRONTERY to question the chairman's authority in front of the whole department!"