1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

frowning (on or upon)

verb

present participle of frown (on or upon)
as in disliking
to hold an unfavorable opinion of a usage that is frowned upon by some grammarians

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for frowning (on or upon)
  1. disliking
  2. criticizing
Verb
  • For Pillsbury, the issue seems to be less about disliking the name itself and more about seeing the same joke repeated online.
    — Lily Brown, PEOPLE, 13 Aug. 2026
  • The result is not a simple story of locals disliking tourists.
    — David Nikel, Forbes.com, 21 June 2026
Definition of disliking
Verb
  • On Friday, the pope strongly reiterated the Church's pro-life teachings, criticizing initiatives to allow assisted dying for those who have incurable illnesses.
    — Joshua McElwee, Arkansas Online, 26 Sep. 2026
  • The exchange sparked a range of reactions in the comments, with some viewers criticizing Langley’s response.
    — Mitchell Peters, Billboard, 26 Sep. 2026
Definition of criticizing
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

frowning (at or on)
frowning (on or upon)
frown (on or upon)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Frowning (on or upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/frowning%20%28on%20or%20upon%29. Accessed 28 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of fungible

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of the words cracker fly and sale arranged in a triangle with the word fire in the middle
Triple Play Quiz Find the word that pairs with each of the three g...
See All