look askance

1. View with mistrust, as in They looked askance at him when he said he'd just made a million in the stock market. The precise feeling conveyed by this expression has varied since it was first used in the 1500s, from envy to contempt to suspicion, although the literal meaning was “look obliquely, with a side glance.” The present sense dates from about 1800. Also see look sideways.

Example Sentences

“Often, people look askance at victims who come forward with allegations years after a crime,” Boyarsky said in a statement.

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In their book, Passing on the Right, Jon Shields and Joshua Dunn noted that “conservative professors…look askance at the populism that has shaken up the Republican Party in recent years.”

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The Chinese leader has chosen three countries to visit — France, Serbia and Hungary — that each, to a greater or lesser degree, look askance at America’s postwar ordering of the world, see China as a necessary counterweight and are eager to bolster economic ties.

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From the moment Saba hits Georgian soil, the police look askance at his family name — a warrant is out for Dad for attempted murder, he’s told — and seize his passport.

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If there were any branch that would look askance at “Barbie” for being about a toy, it’s this one.

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Related Words

• admonish 
• berate 
• castigate 
• chastise 
• chide 
• denounce 
• discipline 
• rebuff 
• rebuke 
• reprimand 
• reproach 
• scold