frontlash

English

Etymology

Blend of front +‎ backlash, coined by US president Lyndon B. Johnson with regard to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The word is still mainly used in reference to that Act.

Noun

frontlash (plural frontlashes)

  1. A swell of support for a proposal that counters any backlash.
    • 1977 April 9, John Kyper, “Controversies Spark Maine Gay Symposium”, in Gay Community News, page 3:
      In his keynote, John Paul Hudson condemned the "glossy commercialism" of David Goodstein and the Advocate, which he said was part of a gay media "backlash" -- while the anti-gay "frontlash" against gays continues.
    • 1996, Richard M. Pious, The Presidency, page 89:
      When a president uses expansive powers and his policy works, he may benefit from a frontlash effect: the successful assertion of power will not only yield political dividends, it will also strengthen the office of the presidency itself.
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