discountenance
Americanverb (used with object)
-
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.
noun
verb
-
to make ashamed or confused
-
to disapprove of
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of discountenance
First recorded in 1570–80; dis- 1 + countenance
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But when Hamilton pleaded a second time, Reverend Moore agreed, provided that if he lived, Hamilton would “employ all your influence in society to discountenance this barbarous custom.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 5, 2016
With affability, not anger, does he discountenance the evildoer.
From Time Magazine Archive
They did not, as was generally reported, decide to discountenance Loucheur's efforts at an agreement with Britain.
From Time Magazine Archive
American principles of fair play discountenance attempts to condemn a person by compelling him to disclose his own transgressions.
From Time Magazine Archive
Spring-fragrance, bird-song and flower-face were harmony too perfect for Essenism to discountenance.
From Saul of Tarsus A Tale of the Early Christians by Elizabeth Miller
Most charitable view of the matter is that Mr. Curtis, having discovered how his name was being used, discountenanced his henchmen.
From Time Magazine Archive
The same ship that carried discountenanced Warlord Chang Hsueh-liang and his 17 "secretaries" from Shanghai last week also bore Benito Mussolini's son-in-law, Count Galeazzo Ciano, Italian Minister to China, going home for a vacation.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Committee concludes that, in nearly all instances, weapons discountenanced by international law were first employed by the Allies and then adopted in "rightful reprisal" by The Central Powers.
From Time Magazine Archive
Colorado mine operators discountenanced the comparatively conservative United Mine Workers some time ago, introducing company unions to replace branches of the A. F. of L. subsidiary.
From Time Magazine Archive
That this system would prove effectual may be safely argued from the fact that, wherever the Gentiles now live in any number, there polygamy is discountenanced and is on the decline.
From The Mormon Puzzle, and How to Solve It by R. W. Beers
Several bond houses wrote back, politely but firmly discountenancing the notion of preferring stocks to bonds as investments.
From Time Magazine Archive
To Gabon's 6,000 Frenchmen that meant only one thing: the U.S. had been behind the abortive coup in hopes of discountenancing le grand Charles.
From Time Magazine Archive
He had the effect of shutting his wife out of the conversation; of definitely snubbing and discountenancing her.
From The Precipice by Elia Wilkinson Peattie
The habit of discountenancing passion may have been fostered in a school like this.
From Recollections and Impressions 1822-1890 by Octavius Brooks Frothingham
He thus adopted a middle course, discountenancing alike the pedantry of the purists and the over-confident optimism of the vulgarists, who found in the uncouth popular speech all the material for a langue savante.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 5 "Greek Law" to "Ground-Squirrel" by Various
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
