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discountenance

verb

  1. to show or express disapproval of (a person)
L331478 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /dɪsˈkaʊntənəns/

noun

Etymology: From Middle French descontenancer (compare French décontenancer).

  1. Cold treatment; disapprobation.

    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,[…]

verb

Etymology: From Middle French descontenancer (compare French décontenancer).

  1. To have an unfavorable opinion of; to deprecate or disapprove of.

    A town meeting was convened to discountenance riot.

    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.

  2. To abash, embarrass or disconcert.

    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? […]

    The hermit was somewhat discountenanced by this observation.

  3. To refuse countenance or support to; to discourage.

    These were rejected by Parliament, which discountenanced the amalgamation of competing lines but gave broad approval in theory to end-on amalgamations.