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''countenance'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260331180822-00-⌔

countenance - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

countenance (countable and uncountable, plural countenances)

• Appearance, especially the features and expression of the face.
  • ✤ How Cownterfet Cowntenaunce of the new get/With Crafty Conueyauance dothe smater and flater,/And Cloked Collucyoun is brought in to clater/With Courtely Abusyoun; […]¹
  • ✤ But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.²
  • ✤ It was as if the countenance were for a brief while allowed to wear the likeness of the peaceful and spiritual world whither the soul had departed.³
  • ✤ 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.⁴
  • ✤ 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?⁵
• Favour; support; encouragement.
  • ✤ Thou hast made him […] glad with thy countenance.⁶
  • ✤ This is the Magiſtrate’s peculiar Province, to give Countenance to Piety and Virtue, and to rebuke Vice and Prophaneneſs; […]⁷
  • ✤ However, the poor old lady is in great distress; she and her grandaughter are coming up to London, and I wish to give them all possible countenance and assistance.⁸
  • ✤ All feared and obeyed him; to use his roads we must have his countenance.⁹
• (obsolete) Superficial appearance; show; pretense.
  • ✤ The election being done, he made countenance of great discontent thereat.¹⁰
• Calm facial expression, composure, self-control.

Verb

countenance (third-person singular simple present countenances, present participle countenancing, simple past and past participle countenanced)

• (transitive) To tolerate, support, sanction, patronise or approve of something.
  • ✤ Synonyms: approve, sanction, support, tolerate
  • ✤ 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.¹¹
  • ✤ But even though the Pleven Plan was the brainchild of a French prime minister, public debate had revealed the extent of French reluctance to countenance German rearmament under any conditions.¹²
  • ✤ […] it is important to keep in mind that the medicine of the period countenanced a larger degreee [sic] of therapeutic modification than is allowed today.¹³
  • ✤ There are obvious reasons to cherish and respect imperial units of measure. […] Very few of us would countenance the removal of pints from pubs, for example.¹⁴
  • ✤ The new chancellor dismantled almost all of the platform that Truss’s leadership victory had been built on, including the majority of her tax cuts, and hinted a new windfall tax was in his sights – a move the PM had previously said she would not countenance.¹⁵

Etymology

From Middle English contenaunce, countenaunce, from Anglo-Norman countenance and Old French contenance, from the present participle of contenir, or from Late Latin continentia, and therefore a doublet of continence.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA: /ˈkaʊn.tə.nəns/, /ˈkaʊnt.nəns/
  • Audio (US): 🔊
• (Australian) IPA: [kæũ̯n.tɪ̆.nəns]
  • Audio (Australian): 🔊

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

1. 1523, John Skelton, “A Ryght Delectable Tratyse vpon a Goodly Garlande or Chapelet of Laurell, […]”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page 409, lines 1193–1196: ↩

2. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 4:5: ↩

3. 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXXI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 319: ↩

4. 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax, London; Melbourne, Vic.: William Heinemann, →OCLC: ↩

5. 1960 January, G. Freeman Allen, “‘Condor’—British Railways’ Fastest Freight Train”, in Trains Illustrated, page 46: ↩

6. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 21:6: ↩

7. 1706 September 19 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar), Francis Atterbury, “A Sermon Preach’d in the Guild-Hall Chapel, London, Sept. 28. 1706. Being the Day of the Election of the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor.”, in Fourteen Sermons Preach’d on Several Occasions. […], London: […] E. P. [Edmund Parker?] for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1708, →OCLC, page 424: ↩

8. 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Prudence in Politics”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 179–180: ↩

9. 1922 (date written; published 1926), T[homas] E[dward] Lawrence, “”, in Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Company, published 1937, →OCLC: ↩

10. a. 1569 (date written), Roger Ascham, edited by Margaret Ascham, The Scholemaster: Or Plaine and Perfite Way of Teaching Children, to Vnderstand, Write, and Speake, the Latin Tong, […], London: […] John Daye, […], published 1570, →OCLC: ↩

11. 1937, Willa Muir and Edwin Muir (translators), The Trial, (Der Prozess 1925, Franz Kafka), Vintage Books (London), pg. 99 ↩

12. 2005, Tony Judt, “The Politics of Stability”, in Postwar: A history of Europe since 1945, London: Vintage Books, published 2010, →ISBN: ↩

13. 2008, Harriet A. Washington, “Profitable Wonders”, in Medical Apartheid ‎${}^{[1]}$, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, page 56: ↩

14. 2022 May 31, James Vincent, “Boris Johnson’s move to bring back imperial units is pure piffle – and simply unfathomable”, in The Guardian ‎${}^{[2]}$: ↩

15. 2022 October 17, “Jeremy Hunt shreds Truss’s economic plans in astounding U-turn on tax”, in The Guardian ‎${}^{[3]}$: ↩

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