frown upon

frown upon (third-person singular simple present frowns upon, present participle frowning upon, simple past and past participle frowned upon)

1. (transitive) To disapprove of.

   Synonyms: frown at, frown on

   • 1962 September, Warren Smith, “The problems of coaching stock rostering and operation”, in Modern Railways, page 193:

     Regular passengers become familiar with their train and attempts to change its make-up or any other aspect of its working are more often than not frowned upon, even though the change is probably for the better.

   • 1991, Michael Talbot, The Holographic Universe, page 101:

     For example, the people of the Trobriand Islands engage freely in sexual relations before marriage, but premarital pregnancy is strongly frowned upon.

   • 2025 September 3, Christian Wolmar, “9 to 5: The changing face of commuting”, in RAIL, number 1043, page 57:

     However, working from home permanently is increasingly being frowned upon by employers, and therefore people are coming to work two or three days per week.