frown on
"frown-on" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“frown on” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To disapprove of (something or someone, often a behavior); to express disapproval of (something or someone).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | frown on |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “frown on” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
frown on is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To disapprove of (something or someone, often a behavior); to express disapproval of (something or someone).".
frown on doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is frown on, spelled F-R-O-W-N- -O-N.
Definition
- 1To disapprove of (something or someone, often a behavior); to express disapproval of (something or someone).
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “frown on”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-R-O-W-N- -O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.