Examples of front matter in a Sentence
The conventions of the book are explained in the front matter.
Recent Examples on the Web
My group chat has a recurring debate about epigraphs, and during one of its iterations, a novelist friend said that epigraphs should simply be put into the book: not as front matter, but in the book itself.
—
Elisa Gabbert, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2025
Add pages for the front matter, back matter, index, glossary and other content.
—Peter Gregory, Forbes, 16 Mar. 2023
The front matter includes an alphabetical list of contributors, along with their professions, but none of their credits or even their studio affiliations.
—Farran Smith Nehme, WSJ, 18 Nov. 2022
Literary superstars such as Taylor have been eager to take on the role of both guide and medium, providing front matter that links the past with the present by placing classic texts in a contemporary context.
—Je Banach, The Atlantic, 8 Sep. 2022
Paging through this front matter feels like waiting for a haunted carnival ride to start, only to be wrong-footed.
—Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 31 Oct. 2019
Some of Richard McGuire’s sequences are taxonomies: bird cages, hats, ice, or the collection of wire shapes that decorates the front matter of this book.
—The New York Review of Books, 13 Oct. 2016
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Elisa Gabbert, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2025
Add pages for the front matter, back matter, index, glossary and other content.
—Peter Gregory, Forbes, 16 Mar. 2023
The front matter includes an alphabetical list of contributors, along with their professions, but none of their credits or even their studio affiliations.
—Farran Smith Nehme, WSJ, 18 Nov. 2022
Literary superstars such as Taylor have been eager to take on the role of both guide and medium, providing front matter that links the past with the present by placing classic texts in a contemporary context.
—Je Banach, The Atlantic, 8 Sep. 2022
Paging through this front matter feels like waiting for a haunted carnival ride to start, only to be wrong-footed.
—Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 31 Oct. 2019
Some of Richard McGuire’s sequences are taxonomies: bird cages, hats, ice, or the collection of wire shapes that decorates the front matter of this book.
—The New York Review of Books, 13 Oct. 2016
Cite this Entry
“Front matter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/front%20matter. Accessed 28 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share