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discountenance. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
discountenance, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
discountenance in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
discountenance you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle French descontenancer (compare French décontenancer).
Pronunciation
Verb
discountenance (third-person singular simple present discountenances, present participle discountenancing, simple past and past participle discountenanced)
- (transitive) To have an unfavorable opinion of; to deprecate or disapprove of.
1855, George Bancroft, chapter XXX, in History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume V, London: Routledge, page 74:A town meeting was convened to discountenance riot.
1908, Edward Carpenter, chapter 4, in The Intermediate Sex, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1921, page 90:So far from friendship being an institution whose value is recognised and understood, it is at best scantily acknowledged, and is often actually discountenanced and misunderstood.
1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Part One, Chapter 2:'Mrs' was a word somewhat discountenanced by the Party—you were supposed to call everyone 'comrade'—but with some women one used it instinctively.
- (transitive) To abash, embarrass or disconcert.
1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: J M for John Starkey , →OCLC, page 39, lines 216–220:How would one look from his Majeſtick brow, / Seated as on the top of Vertues hill, / Diſcount'nance her deſpiſ'd, and put to rout / All her array, her female pride deject, / Or turn to reverent awe? […]
1820, Walter Scott, chapter 16, in Ivanhoe:The hermit was somewhat discountenanced by this observation.
- (transitive) To refuse countenance or support to; to discourage.
1948 January and February, “British Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 1:These were rejected by Parliament, which discountenanced the amalgamation of competing lines but gave broad approval in theory to end-on amalgamations.
Derived terms
Noun
discountenance (uncountable)
- Cold treatment; disapprobation.
1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter VII, in Duty and Inclination: , volume II, London: Henry Colburn, , →OCLC, page 92:Highly tenacious of preserving over the mind of Sir Aubrey an undisputed sway, Lady De Brooke had seen with great reluctance the ascendency his grand-daughters were acquiring, which she artfully hoped to repress by throwing discountenance on the visits of their father, […]