"frown upon" meaning in English

See frown upon in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: frowns upon [present, singular, third-person], frowning upon [participle, present], frowned upon [participle, past], frowned upon [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} frown upon (third-person singular simple present frowns upon, present participle frowning upon, simple past and past participle frowned upon)
  1. (transitive) To disapprove of. Tags: transitive Synonyms: frown at, frown on Translations (facial expression): qınamaq (Azerbaijani), paheksua (Finnish), désapprouver (French), réprouver (French), ne pas voir d’un très bon œil (French), voir d'un mauvais œil (French), missbilligen (German), verpönen (German), unbeliebt sein (German), nicht gutheißen (German), líta á með vanþóknun (Icelandic), indispettire (Italian), disapprovare (Italian), corrucciare (Italian), corrucciarsi (Italian), desaprovar (Occitan), krzywo patrzeć [imperfective] (Polish), torcer o nariz (Portuguese), осуждать (osuždatʹ) (Russian), порицать (poricatʹ) (Russian), desaprobar (Spanish), estar mal visto (Spanish)

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "frowns upon",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "frowning upon",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "frowned upon",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "frowned upon",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "frown upon (third-person singular simple present frowns upon, present participle frowning upon, simple past and past participle frowned upon)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
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        {
          "kind": "other",
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        },
        {
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      ],
      "examples": [
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              146,
              158
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1962 September, Warren Smith, “The problems of coaching stock rostering and operation”, in Modern Railways, page 193:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              137,
              149
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1991, Michael Talbot, The Holographic Universe, page 101:",
          "text": "For example, the people of the Trobriand Islands engage freely in sexual relations before marriage, but premarital pregnancy is strongly frowned upon.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              61,
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            ]
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          "ref": "2025 September 3, Christian Wolmar, “9 to 5: The changing face of commuting”, in RAIL, number 1043, page 57:",
          "text": "However, working from home permanently is increasingly being frowned upon by employers, and therefore people are coming to work two or three days per week.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To disapprove of."
      ],
      "id": "en-frown_upon-en-verb-mOJvxl33",
      "links": [
        [
          "disapprove",
          "disapprove"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To disapprove of."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "frown at"
        },
        {
          "word": "frown on"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "az",
          "lang": "Azerbaijani",
          "lang_code": "az",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "qınamaq"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "paheksua"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "désapprouver"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "réprouver"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "ne pas voir d’un très bon œil"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "voir d'un mauvais œil"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "missbilligen"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "verpönen"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "unbeliebt sein"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "nicht gutheißen"
        },
        {
          "code": "is",
          "lang": "Icelandic",
          "lang_code": "is",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "líta á með vanþóknun"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "lang_code": "it",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "indispettire"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "lang_code": "it",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "disapprovare"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "lang_code": "it",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "corrucciare"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "lang_code": "it",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "corrucciarsi"
        },
        {
          "code": "oc",
          "lang": "Occitan",
          "lang_code": "oc",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "desaprovar"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "krzywo patrzeć"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "lang_code": "pt",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "torcer o nariz"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "osuždatʹ",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "осуждать"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "poricatʹ",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "порицать"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "desaprobar"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "facial expression",
          "word": "estar mal visto"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "frown upon"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "frowns upon",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "frowning upon",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "frowned upon",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "frowned upon",
      "tags": [
        "past"
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  "lang_code": "en",
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            [
              146,
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          "ref": "1962 September, Warren Smith, “The problems of coaching stock rostering and operation”, in Modern Railways, page 193:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              137,
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          "ref": "1991, Michael Talbot, The Holographic Universe, page 101:",
          "text": "For example, the people of the Trobriand Islands engage freely in sexual relations before marriage, but premarital pregnancy is strongly frowned upon.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              61,
              73
            ]
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          "ref": "2025 September 3, Christian Wolmar, “9 to 5: The changing face of commuting”, in RAIL, number 1043, page 57:",
          "text": "However, working from home permanently is increasingly being frowned upon by employers, and therefore people are coming to work two or three days per week.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To disapprove of."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "disapprove",
          "disapprove"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To disapprove of."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "frown at"
        },
        {
          "word": "frown on"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "az",
      "lang": "Azerbaijani",
      "lang_code": "az",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "qınamaq"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "paheksua"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "désapprouver"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "réprouver"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "ne pas voir d’un très bon œil"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "voir d'un mauvais œil"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "missbilligen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "verpönen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "unbeliebt sein"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "nicht gutheißen"
    },
    {
      "code": "is",
      "lang": "Icelandic",
      "lang_code": "is",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "líta á með vanþóknun"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "lang_code": "it",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "indispettire"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "lang_code": "it",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "disapprovare"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "lang_code": "it",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "corrucciare"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "lang_code": "it",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "corrucciarsi"
    },
    {
      "code": "oc",
      "lang": "Occitan",
      "lang_code": "oc",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "desaprovar"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "krzywo patrzeć"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "lang_code": "pt",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "torcer o nariz"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "osuždatʹ",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "осуждать"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "poricatʹ",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "порицать"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "desaprobar"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "facial expression",
      "word": "estar mal visto"
    }
  ],
  "word": "frown upon"
}

Download raw JSONL data for frown upon meaning in English (5.0kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-08-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-08-05 using wiktextract (872fc7b and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.