To confront before and after in close proximity (4,2,4)
I believe the answer is:
face to face
'close proximity' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'to confront before and after in' is the wordplay.
'confront' becomes 'face' (synonyms).
'before and after' becomes 'face' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'face'+'face'='faceface'
'to' inserted inside 'faceface' is 'FACE-TO-FACE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for face to face that I've seen before include "being in personal contact" , "Aspect of best service" , "In presence of or confrontation with another" , "Opposite" .)