countenance
/ˈkaʊn.tə.nəns/ verb C2- To tolerate, support, sanction, patronise or approve of something. · 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.
He/she/it countenances · Past countenanced · Past participle countenanced · -ing form countenancing
Verb forms
- Base form
- countenance
- He/she/it
- countenances
- Past
- countenanced
- Past participle
- countenanced
- -ing form
- countenancing
From the library
The countenance of old Dantès brightened.
Neither Mercédès nor Edmond observed the strange expression of his countenance; they were so happy that they were conscious only of the sunshine and the presence of each other.
Thus he came along, supporting himself on a curiously carved stick, his aged countenance lit up with happiness, looking for all the world like one of the aged dandies of 1796, parading the newly opened gardens of the Luxembourg and Tuileries.
As Danglars approached the disappointed lover, he cast on him a look of deep meaning, while Fernand, as he slowly paced behind the happy pair, who seemed, in their own unmixed content, to have entirely forgotten that such a being as himself existed, was pale and abstracted; occasionally, however, a deep flush would overspread his countenance, and a nervous contraction distort his features, while, with an agitated and restless gaze, he would glance in the direction of Marseilles, like one who either anticipated or foresaw some great and important event.
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