Meaning & use
sea front
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Meaning
nounsingularBritish
the part of a town that faces the sea, especially the road and buildings along the coast
Grammar: Usually used with 'the': 'We walked along the sea front.' It is not normally used in the plural.
Patterns
- on the sea front
- along the sea front
- a hotel on the sea front
We found a small café on the sea front.
Their hotel is right on the sea front, so every room has a view of the water.
On summer evenings the sea front is full of people walking and eating ice cream.
Common combinations
- on the sea front
- There is a new restaurant on the sea front.
- along the sea front
- We cycled along the sea front in the morning.
- sea front hotel
- They stayed in a sea front hotel with a pool.
- sea front promenade
- The sea front promenade is lit up at night.
Synonyms and how they differ
- waterfront
- Used in both American and British English for the area beside any water, not only the sea.
- promenade
- A paved walkway along the sea front, usually for walking rather than the whole area.
- seafront
- The same word written as one word; many British writers use this spelling.
Word family
- seafront noun
- One-word spelling of the same place.
Commonly confused: sea front or seaside?
sea front vs seaside
Seaside means a place by the sea in general, especially as a vacation area; sea front means the actual edge of the town facing the water.
Practice
We stayed at a small hotel ______ the sea front.
Choose one answer.
'On the sea front' is the usual phrase for a building or position facing the sea. 'In' would suggest inside the area, and 'at' is too general for this fixed expression.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sea front”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.