Meanings
present singular third person frowns upon · participle present frowning upon · participle past frowned upon · past frowned upon
- transitiveTo disapprove of.
For example, the people of the Trobriand Islands engage freely in sexual relations before marriage, but premarital pregnancy is strongly frowned upon.
1991, Michael Talbot, The Holographic Universe, page 1012 more examples
Regular passengers become familiar with their train and attempts to change its make-up or any other aspect of its working are more often than not frowned upon, even though the change is probably for the better.
1962 September, Warren Smith, “The problems of coaching stock rostering and operation”, in Modern Railways, page 193However, working from home permanently is increasingly being frowned upon by employers, and therefore people are coming to work two or three days per week.
2025 September 3, Christian Wolmar, “9 to 5: The changing face of commuting”, in RAIL, number 1043, page 57
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Finnish paheksua
- paheksuafacial expression
French désapprouver, réprouver
- désapprouverfacial expression
- réprouverfacial expression
- ne pas voir d’un très bon œilfacial expression
- voir d'un mauvais œilfacial expression
German missbilligen, verpönen
- missbilligenfacial expression
- verpönenfacial expression
- unbeliebt seinfacial expression
- nicht gutheißenfacial expression
Icelandic líta á með vanþóknun
- líta á með vanþóknunfacial expression
Italian indispettire, disapprovare
- indispettirefacial expression
- disapprovarefacial expression
- corrucciarefacial expression
- corrucciarsifacial expression
Polish krzywo patrzeć
- krzywo patrzećfacial expression
Portuguese torcer o nariz
- torcer o narizfacial expression
Russian осуждать, порицать
- осуждать (osuždatʹ)facial expression
- порицать (poricatʹ)facial expression
Spanish desaprobar, estar mal visto
- desaprobarfacial expression
- estar mal vistofacial expression
Cite this entry
frown upon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frown%20upon
“frown upon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frown%20upon. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “frown upon,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frown%20upon.
Source: frown upon on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.