Word.ws English Dictionary

askance

UK/əˈskæns//əˈskæns/

askance adverb: of a glance or look: with disapproval, skepticism, or suspicion.

Adverb

askance (not comparable)

  1. Of a glance or look: with disapproval, skepticism, or suspicion.
    • The beggar asked for change, but the haughty woman only looked at him askance.
    • The scandal of opposition died down, and the stone-carver himself, though the town-folk continued to eye him askance, was able to secure other work through the favor of discriminating patrons.1932, Clark Ashton Smith, The Maker of Gargoyles
  2. Obliquely, sideways.
    • [S]he caſt her dewed eyes aſ kance, / And ſpying me, gan rovvſe her heauie head, / And praide me pen her ſad and heauie chance, / And ſhe recounted it that preſent ſted, […]1584, Thomas Lodge, “Truths Complaint ouer England”, in An Alarum against Usurers. […], London: […] T[homas] Este, for Sampson Clarke, […], →OCLC, folio 37, verso
    • I glanced askance at this strange creature, and found him watching me with his queer, restless eyes.1896, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter VIII, in The Island of Doctor Moreau (Heinemann’s Colonial Library of Popular Fiction; 52), London: William Heinemann, →OCLC; republished as The Island of...
    Synonyms:
    asquint

Adjective

askance (not comparable)

  1. Turned to the side, especially of the eyes.
    • My first thought was, he lied in every word,
      That hoary cripple, with malicious eye
      Askance to watch the working of his lie1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
    Synonyms:
    oblique, sideways, askew

Verb

askance (third-person singular simple present askances, present participle askancing, simple past and past participle askanced)

  1. (rare, transitive) To look at (someone or something) with a sideways glance.
    • Bowed heads, Aunt Ellen's, Aunt Laura's, her sister's — bowed but askancing her yellow dress — yes, yellow, golden yellow, hue of sun and life, Dad's favorite, to see him off on this, his greatest journey.1953, Lowry Charles Wimberly, Prairie Schooner, volume 27, page 406
    • "My dear sir," said Hube in an authoritative manner to the receptionist askancing Thales, "first of all, we aren't tourists. Secondly, this isn't a rat, this is the present embodiment of the spiritual leader of millions of people in India […]1997, Tibor Fischer, The Thought Gang, page 185
  2. (rare, transitive) To turn (one's eye or gaze) to the side.
    • The pope askanced his eye at Michael with displeasure, and after a short pause saluted him, " Instead of your coming to us, you seem to have expected that we should attend upon you."1826, William Hone, The Every Day Book, Or, A Guide to the Year

askance meaning in Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam

askance in Tamil

மனத்தில் ஐயத்துடன் நோக்குதல், ஐயப்பார்வை, பக்கமாக, சாய்வாக, ஓரமாக, மறைகுறிப்பாக

askance in Bengali

সন্দেহ, অবিশ্বাসের দৃষ্টিতে, আড়চোখে

askance in Malayalam

sceptically, suspiciously, cynically
സംശയദൃഷ്ട്യാ, സംശയത്തോടെ, സംശയിച്ച്, സന്ദേഹത്തോടെ, അവിശ്വാസത്തോടെ, അർത്ഥവത്തായി

Examples of askance in a sentence

  • Both […] were viewed askance by authority.1875, William Ewart Gladstone, The Church of England and Ritualism:
  • Even the Democrat voters that might look askance at a Green Party candidate, I want you guys to consider this.2026 April 22, Nathan J. Robinson, Butch Ware, “The Green Party’s Butch Ware: ‘I Love a Good Fight’”, in Current Affairs, archived from the...
  • [T]he head-stones in the grave-yard beneath seemed to be holding themselves askance to keep it out of their faces.1878 July–October, Henry James, Jr., “(please specify the page)”, in The Europeans. A Sketch. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II)...

All 16 example sentences with askance

Synonyms of askance

All synonyms of askance

Forms of askance

Adverb
alternative formaskaunce
alternative formaskant
Verb
third-person singular presentaskances
present participleaskancing
past participleaskanced
pastaskanced

Origin of askance

Unknown. Possibly from Middle English askances (“as if”), or from Old French a escone (“hidden”) or Italian a scancio (“obliquely”). Compare asquint, Middle English askoyn (“at a slant, askance”), Dutch schuin, schuins (“sideways”), schuiven (“to shove”), schuinte (“slope”).

Words formed from askance

Words that rhyme with askance

4 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about askance

What does askance mean?
Askance means of a glance or look: with disapproval, skepticism, or suspicion.
What is askance in Tamil?
Askance in Tamil is மனத்தில் ஐயத்துடன் நோக்குதல், ஐயப்பார்வை, பக்கமாக. See Askance meaning in Tamil.
How do you use askance in a sentence?
Both […] were viewed askance by authority.
What part of speech is askance?
Askance can be an adverb, an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce askance?
Askance is pronounced /əˈskæns/ (UK).

Words near askance in the dictionary

  1. askal
  2. askals
  3. Askam
  4. Askam and Ireleth
  5. Askam in Furness
  6. askance
  7. askanced
  8. askances
  9. askancing
  10. Askander
  11. askant

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: askance (page history and authors); askance (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); askance (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); askance (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-askance.ogg.

Cite this entry: “askance.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/askance. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.