Word.ws English Dictionary

frown on

frown on verb: to disapprove of (something or someone, often a behavior); to express disapproval of (something or someone).

Verb

frown on (third-person singular simple present frowns on, present participle frowning on, simple past and past participle frowned on)

  1. (figuratively) To disapprove of (something or someone, often a behavior); to express disapproval of (something or someone).
    • Coach frowns on smoking, even in the off-season.
    • The three "Greats" (Great Eastern, Great Central, and Great Northern) were prepared to amalgamate, but Parliament continued to frown on such proposals.1948 January and February, “British Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 2
    Synonyms:
    frown at, frown upon

Synonyms of frown on

Forms of frown on

third-person singular presentfrowns on
present participlefrowning on
past participlefrowned on
pastfrowned on

Questions about frown on

What does frown on mean?
Frown on means to disapprove of (something or someone, often a behavior); to express disapproval of (something or someone).
What part of speech is frown on?
Frown on is a verb.
What is the past tense of frown on?
The past tense of frown on is frowned on.

Words near frown on in the dictionary

  1. frowers
  2. frowey
  3. frowling
  4. frown
  5. frown at
  6. frown on
  7. frown upon
  8. frownd
  9. frowned
  10. frowned at
  11. frowned on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: frown on (page history and authors). 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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Cite this entry: “frown on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/frown_on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.