as in disapproval
refusal to accept as right or desirable
made known his long-standing discountenance of any form of religious belief
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in to dislike
to hold an unfavorable opinion of
a social philosopher who discountenanced all programs for helping the needy, claiming that society should encourage survival of the fittest
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to embarrass
to throw into a state of self-conscious distress
the political party was discountenanced by the actions of a few of its overly zealous members
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for discountenance
Noun
-
The President is distrusted on the economy and has, per Fox News, a disapproval rating of an astonishing fifty-nine per cent.—
Benjamin Wallace-Wells,
New Yorker,
29 Mar. 2026 -
China is Pyongyang’s biggest trading partner and major ally, but Beijing has expressed disapproval over the years at North Korea’s test-launches of missiles that could be used to target South Korea and the United States.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
29 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
The Republican wants to open new areas of the Gulf off Florida to drilling, and has proposed sweeping rollbacks of environmental regulations disliked by industry.—
MATTHEW BROWN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS,
Arkansas Online,
1 Apr. 2026
-
Virtual shopping is a great choice for those who are short on time or really dislike shopping.—
Bailey Reed,
Louisville Courier Journal,
1 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
And when that happens, Jamahl Mosley — a good coach and an even better man — will be the fall guy for a team that is embarrassing itself on a national scale and getting exposed in the league standings.—
Mike Bianchi,
The Orlando Sentinel,
2 Apr. 2026
-
The very existence of Tisch’s relationship and conversations with Epstein, which are not in dispute, should be enough to embarrass the NFL.—
Pat Leonard,
New York Daily News,
1 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Two advisers to Qatar told me that Global Risk had also conducted background checks and written reports on people linked to campaigns criticizing Qatar; corporate-intelligence firms often provide such open-source research.—
David D. Kirkpatrick,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
-
However, in a pair of letters to the editor published in the Journal of Pediatrics, doctors criticized the article as hyped.—
David Hilzenrath,
USA Today,
29 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
As if that wasn’t confusing enough, not all Christians agree on what day of the calendar that specific Sunday is.—
Manon Bischoff,
Scientific American,
4 Apr. 2026
-
This was not to be confused with the Ulster Volunteer Force or the Ulster Defence Association, both terrorist organizations that vehemently favored the link with Britain.—
Colm Tóibín,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Olsson rejects The Athletic’s offer to take cover inside the coffee shop.—
Megan Feringa,
New York Times,
1 Apr. 2026
-
Last week, for example, the UK government rejected plans by a Chinese company, Ming Yang, to invest in a Scottish factory to produce wind turbine blades, citing national security reasons.—
Andy Browne,
semafor.com,
31 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
But Seymour threw on a press, flustering the Patriots, who began to turn the ball over.—
Lori Riley,
Hartford Courant,
22 Mar. 2026
-
The Buckeyes were flustered at times and committed 15 turnovers on the day.—
Ben Messinger,
Daily News,
7 Mar. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Discountenance.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/discountenance. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
