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''disapprobation'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260904152658-00-⌔

disapprobation - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

disapprobation (countable and uncountable, plural disapprobations)

  • An act or expression of condemnation or disapproval, especially on moral grounds.
    • ✤ Synonyms: censure, damnation, improbation; see also Thesaurus: condemnation
    • ✤ Antonym: approbation
    • ✤ Though a gentle Sigh which ſtole from the Boſom of Nancy, ſeemed to argue ſome ſecret Diſapprobation of theſe Sentiments, ſhe did not dare openly to oppoſe them.1
    • ✤ Elizabeth would wonder, and probably would blame her; and though her resolution was not to be shaken, her feelings must be hurt by such disapprobation.2
    • ✤ Believe me, I have no warmer sentiment to bestow; and even if I had I could not indulge it, since it would meet with the decided disapprobation of my family, and never could I bring myself to act in opposition to them.3
    • ✤ And not only these acts, but the dispositions which lead to them, are properly immoral, and fit subjects of disapprobation which may rise to abhorrence.4
    • ✤ No one seems to think so, however. Yet they view my arrival with a knapsack on my back with cold disapprobation, as unseemly as if I had arrived riding on a pig. I ought to be in a carriage, and the knapsack ought to be a new suitcase.5

Etymology

From dis- + approbation.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA: /dɪsˌæpɹəˈbeɪʃən/
  • Audio (UK): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Printed 2026-09-04.

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Footnotes

  1. 1749, Henry Fielding, “What arrived while the Company were at Breakfast, with some Hints concerning the Government of Daughters”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume V, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book XIII, page 48: ↩

  2. 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XXII, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 287: ↩

  3. 1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter X, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 131: ↩

  4. 1859, John Stuart Mill, “Applications”, in On Liberty, London: John W[illiam] Parker and Son, […], →OCLC, page 140: ↩

  5. 1921, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “As Far as Palermo”, in Sea and Sardinia, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, →OCLC, page 21: ↩