Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use countenance in a sentence

37 example sentences · noun, verb

Countenance means appearance, especially the features and expression of the face. Example: “The cruel punishment was countenanced by the government, although it was not officially legal.”

Examples of countenance by meaning

nounAppearance, especially the features and expression of the face.

  • But Richmond, his grandfather's darling, after one thoughtful glance cast under his lashes at that uncompromising countenance appeared to lose himself in his own reflections.1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax, London; Melbourne, Vic.: William Heinemann, →OCLC
  • With such powerful selling-points, why is it, as recent editorial comment and correspondence in this journal has revealed, that "Condor" has yet to bring a warm glow to the countenance of the L.M.R.'s accountants?1960 January, G. Freeman Allen, “‘Condor’—British Railways’ Fastest Freight Train”, in Trains Illustrated, page 46

nounFavour; support; encouragement.

  • All feared and obeyed him; to use his roads we must have his countenance.1922 (date written; published 1926), T[homas] E[dward] Lawrence, “(please specify the page)”, in Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph, Garden...

verbTo tolerate, support, sanction, patronise or approve of something.

  • The cruel punishment was countenanced by the government, although it was not officially legal.
  • I won't countenance other than compunctious semblances for such a grievous blunder.
  • For the Defence was not actually countenanced by the Law, but only tolerated, and there were differences of opinion even on that point, whether the Law could be interpreted to admit such tolerances at all.1937, Willa Muir and Edwin Muir (translators), The Trial, (Der Prozess 1925, Franz Kafka), Vintage Books (London), pg. 99

More sentences with countenance

  • In my eyes it bore a livelier image of the spirit, it seemed more express and single, than the imperfect and divided countenance.From the entry express
  • Mike is surfer-blond, like Ricky in Germany; his hair is shorter, accentuating his somewhat pudgy countenance.2014, Jack B. Rochester, Madrone, Wheatmark, Inc., →ISBN. From the entry mouche
  • Imagine a countenance like that without a mind to offset it.1989, Mike Resnick, Balance. From the entry just as well
  • The anti-Haecceitist Combinatorialist will countenance fewer possible worlds than the Haecceitist does.1989, D[avid] M[alet] Armstrong, A Combinatorial Theory of Possibility, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 58–59. From the entry haecceitist
  • Also, there is no reason to countenance give-ups in the over-the-counter market.1964, United States, Securities and Exchange Commission, Special Study of Securities Markets, John W. Hazard, John Wharton Hazard, Milton…. From the entry give-up
  • The jack-pudding who now masquerades with motley countenance in the market-place of Lhasa.1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 9, page 222. From the entry jack pudding
  • Uxoriousness was a weakness that the precepts of the Caribs did not countenance.1903–1906, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Dougherty’s Eye-opener”, in The Voice of the City, complete edition, Garden City…. From the entry carib
  • A snoutfair is a person with a handsome countenance.2013 May 15, Prosser, Marc, thatthereengland. From the entry snoutfair
  • Standing beside her in a school uniform was a tall, dykishly handsome older girl, with the countenance of a prefect.2003 January 3, Dr. Simpson, “Excerpt from "Spanking Around the World"”, in soc.sexuality.spanking (Usenet). From the entry dykishly
  • A sudden thought cast a gloom over his countenance.1960, Lawrence Durrell, Clea. From the entry cast
  • “Jungle standards do not countenance wanton atrocities.1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Countess Explains”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company…. From the entry faugh
  • If a pallid countenance lost in a dusk brings sorrow upon us, we know that in its place a stream blushedly flows!2006, Miloš Crnjanski (translated), “Sumatra”, in Serbian Literary Magazine, number 1, Belgrade: Serbian Writers Association, →ISSN…. From the entry blushedly
  • The landfolk of the region had that day brought to the revolutionary court of judgment a young man of handsome and frank countenance.1963, Pearl Buck, The Living Reed, New York: John Day Co., →OCLC. From the entry landfolk
  • But Richmond, his grandfather's darling, after one thoughtful glance cast under his lashes at that uncompromising countenance, appeared to lose himself in his own reflections.1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax, London; Melbourne, Vic.: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 3. From the entry darling
  • But Richmond, his grandfather’s darling, after one thoughtful glance cast under his lashes at that uncompromising countenance, appeared to lose himself in his own reflections.1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax, 1st Australian edition, London; Melbourne, Vic.: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 3. From the entry glance
  • I had had my beardal hair eradicated so that I could glory in a countenance of an infantile softness and an exquisite glabrity.1922, Earl Lind, edited by Alfred W. Herzog, The Female-Impersonators, Part 4. From the entry glabrity
  • He is not embarrassed by the sans gene of the hobo, nor put out of countenance by the etiquette of the prince.1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 46”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC. From the entry sans gêne
  • The countenance might have been that of a cross between Pithecanthropus, the Java ape-man, and a daughter of the Piltdown race of prehistoric Sussex.1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp.…. From the entry semiarboreal
  • It was a hot night, and the dust of Limpet's fanlight covered him like a garment, and streaked his countenance like a coal-heaver's.1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 91. From the entry coalheaver
  • Lady Bullingdon could not, of course, countenance such an arrangement for a moment, and the two unhappy persons escaped for a clandestine marriage.1912, G. K. Chesterton, chapter 9, in Manalive. From the entry clandestine
  • Seen in the darkness, it was that of an evil-looking, thick-set savage, with a forbidding countenance dotted unevenly with scrabbly wisps of beard.1906, Bertram Mitford, Harley Greenoak's charge, page 254. From the entry scrabbly
  • It does not defy death and futurity, for a doubt of its kingship over them never overflushed the majestic havir of its serene countenance.1902, James Russell Lowell, Early Prose Writings of James Russell Lowell, page 164. From the entry overflush
  • The prospect that their cherished Greeks would have countenanced, much less honored, a love between men that expressed itself carnally, however, was not so easily assimilated.2013, Ronald Long, Men, Homosexuality, and the Gods, Routledge, →ISBN, page 3. From the entry love
  • "Who knows but that such age-old customs, rooted in dark, immemorial country lore and probably of pagan origin, may not put shallow urban meliorists out of countenance?".2001 August 17, “The Peter Simple Column”, in Daily Telegraph. From the entry meliorist
  • He was completely bald and had a heavy, Chinese-looking countenance which contained, deeply embedded, two eyes of penetration and pertness, always twinkling on the edge of laughter.1983, Lawrence Durrell, Sebastian, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p. 1021. From the entry pertness
  • The widow turned her usually unemotional face to the cougher, and the concern on her countenance showed that the innuendo of the reverend alarmist had reached even her.1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia…. From the entry cougher
  • The keeping eunuchs were at back, solemn in stately rows, bespeared and bescimitared, the Danish, Irish, and German of their countenances lost in the daub which made them swart.1905, Samuel Major Gardenhire, The Silence of Mrs. Harrold - Page 277. From the entry swart
  • A precursor to the “manic pixie dreamgirl” trope of today, the femme-enfant’s youth was to be mooned over, her naïveté aspired to, her pure countenance captured in poetry and paint.2019 June, Pam Grossman, “The Dark Arts: Magic Makers and Craft Women”, in Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power, New…. From the entry manic pixie dreamgirl
  • The royal countenance was of such power (deriving from his kinship with the sun and moon), the direct sight of his visage could cause one to be consumed by fire.2006, Kathryn L. Reyerson, Theofanis G. Stavrou, James D. Tracy, editors, Pre-Modern Russia and its World: Essays in Honor of Thomas S.…. From the entry šâh
  • But they eschewed nothing edible, so far as Stanley could tell; any kind of vegetable, fish, fowl or meat, the Hu Nan kitchen could countenance it, and prepare it well.1997, Jim Nisbet, Prelude to a Scream, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 99. From the entry Hu Nan
  • For all the rich array and goodly port and countenance of Corinius, he seemed but a very boor beside the Lord Brandoch Daha, and dearly did each hate the other.1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 30. From the entry boor

Meaning of countenance

  1. noun Appearance, especially the features and expression of the face.
  2. noun Favour; support; encouragement.
  3. noun Superficial appearance; show; pretense.

Full definition of countenance

Questions about countenance in a sentence

How do you use countenance in a sentence?
Countenance is used as a noun and verb. For example: “The cruel punishment was countenanced by the government, although it was not officially legal.”
What is a short sentence with countenance?
““Jungle standards do not countenance wanton atrocities.”
What does countenance mean?
Countenance means appearance, especially the features and expression of the face.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: countenance (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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