askance

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Compared to these inducements, the fact that people would look upon her askance was a very insignificant consideration.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. adverb With disapproval, suspicion, or distrust: "The area is so dirty that merchants report the tourists are looking askance” (Chris Black).
  2. adverb With a sideways glance; obliquely.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

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Examples (50)

  • They both looked askance--the cabin seemed solidly rooted atop its mountain ridge We are aboard a starship Jason scoffed, but Heather asked, "What starship?" —  Asimov's SF - February2006
  • They eyed our preparations for making gas askance, and politely but firmly insisted that the next train out of town was especially suited for our purpose. —  The Making of an American
  • As a result of the various theories advanced, Ogden Van Lennop came gradually to be looked at askance--a fact of which he seemed totally oblivious. —  The Lady Doc
  • Compared to these inducements, the fact that people would look upon her askance was a very insignificant consideration. —  Mary Wollstonecraft
  • They eyed him askance, and eyed each other as they fell behind. —  Two Sides of the Face Midwinter Tales
 

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Origin unknown.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. First in early modern English, also written ascance, askaunce, ascaunce, askauns, askaunse, asconce, a scance, a sconce, in the earliest recorded form (Palsgrave, 1530) a scanche; with a later variant askant, q. v. Origin uncertain. Cf. asquint, asklent, aslant, and askew, askile.
  2. from askance, adv.
 

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/əˈskæns/
by American Heritage

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