front, breast - confront bodily; "breast the storm"

take the bull by the horns - face a difficulty and grapple with it without avoiding it

encounter, take on, meet, play - contend against an opponent in a sport, game, or battle; "Princeton plays Yale this weekend"; "Charlie likes to play Mary"

pit, play off, oppose, match - set into opposition or rivalry; "let them match their best athletes against ours"; "pit a chess player against the Russian champion"; "He plays his two children off against each other"

confront, face, present - present somebody with something, usually to accuse or criticize; "We confronted him with the evidence"; "He was faced with all the evidence and could no longer deny his actions"; "An enormous dilemma faces us"

go about, set about, approach - begin to deal with; "approach a task"; "go about a difficult problem"; "approach a new project"

tackle, undertake, take on - accept as a challenge; "I'll tackle this difficult task"

face, face up, confront - deal with (something unpleasant) head on; "You must confront your problems"; "He faced the terrible consequences of his mistakes"

front, face, look - be oriented in a certain direction, often with respect to another reference point; be opposite to; "The house looks north"; "My backyard look onto the pond"; "The building faces the park"