discountenance
[dis-koun-tn-uh ns]
- to disconcert, embarrass, or abash: With his composure, he survived every attempt to discountenance him.
- to show disapproval of: The teachers discountenanced smoking by the students.
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- disapproval; disapprobation.
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Origin of discountenance
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
discourage, deprecate, disapprove, disesteem, resist, disfavor, condemn, dispute, discomfit, discompose, chagrin, rattle, confuse, shame, abash, faze, humiliate, discommendExamples from the Web for discountenance
Historical Examples
If unhappily thrown among them, discountenance them to the utmost.
Advice to a Young Man upon First Going to OxfordEdward Berens
As an Association they are pledged to discountenance just what I did.
Elizabeth Hobart at Exeter HallJean K. Baird
All citizens are urged to discountenance the building of fires.
Complete Story of the San Francisco HorrorRichard Linthicum
He would not allow stone-flinging, because it was a habit of his to discountenance it.
The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, CompleteGeorge Meredith
Let them in their several stations encourage virtue and discountenance vice in others.
discountenance
- to make ashamed or confused
- to disapprove of
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- disapproval
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for discountenance
v.
"put to shame," 1570s, from Middle French descontenancer (16c.) "to abash," from des- (see dis-) + contenancer (see countenance).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper